Kathryn Plummer made No. 1 Stanford's (3-0) first test of the season appear pretty seamless, forcing 21 kills and six digs to overcome No. 7 Florida (2-1) in a three-set sweep. With the Cardinal's win, they now tie Hawaii, UCLA and Penn State for the 10th longest winning streak (35) in NCAA history.
She's been the top player in the country for the past few years for a good reason! Kathryn Plummer had the hot hand for No. 1 @StanfordWVB with 21 kills on .441 hitting in the Cardinal's sweep of No. 7 Florida. #NCAAVB pic.twitter.com/BbRz4GRJ7i
— NCAA Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) September 5, 2019
Coming into Wednesday's match, Stanford had lost just twice in two years, with one of those defeats being at the hands of Florida in 2017 in the NCAA tournament semifinals. That five-set match ended in Florida's advance to the national championship game. The Gators would end up losing to Nebraska 3-1 in the national title game.
The two teams have history, but it wasn't enough to unsettle the Cardinal.
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Florida pushed three points past Stanford to begin the match. If the Gators were to take control of the match, it would have to be on defense. In the first set, Florida did, skating a 12-7 run to make it 20-18 in the first set. Down by two, Stanford took a timeout in response, and then won the set, 25-22.
When Stanford was behind in a set, the Gators could not make adjustments to bounce back. Ultimately, Stanford won all three sets (25-22, 25-17, 25-19) by a Florida service error.
The Cardinal has yet to lose a set this season.
Wednesday's second top-10 matchup featured three nail-biting sets from No. 8 Minnesota and No. 3 Texas. Despite the close third set, the Longhorns swept the Golden Gophers 25-22, 29-27, 35-33. Texas is now 39-2 in the last 41 matches at Gregory Gym.
Greg is packed. Y'all mean business 🤘#HookEm | #PointTexas pic.twitter.com/qOnQY8R3Q6
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) September 5, 2019
Minnesota had its chances to take the last two sets but were 0-15 on set points. In the second set, the Golden Gophers had six set points, but they could not finish out the set. A near replica was seen in the third set, when Minnesota had six set points.
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Texas endured three match points before bringing out the brooms.
All four of these top-7 teams play on Sunday. Florida will travel to Minnesota, and Stanford will host Texas.
