Lone Star Struggles: No. 2 Stanford women’s volleyball overpowers No. 6 Texas in sweep behind Kami Miner’s play

To call Sunday’s women’s volleyball match between Stanford (7-0, 0-0 ACC) and Texas (3-3, 0-0 SEC) a grudge match would be an understatement. Despite sweeping the Longhorns in Austin, Texas last season, Texas traveled to Stanford during the 2023 NCAA tournament and pulled off a 3-1 upset in the Elite Eight on course to its second straight championship. 

With Maples Pavilion near capacity with 6894 attendees, senior setter Kami Miner displayed why she should be considered the best setter in the country, tallying 35 assists on Stanford’s way to a 3-0 sweep of Texas. 

“We were excited, for one, to have a home opener, especially against Texas with all the history,” Miner said after the game. “[They are] such a great program and it’s always exciting to play them.”

Miner’s ability to keep opposing blockers guessing was part of the reason for Stanford’s successful offensive attack. Her impact was demonstrated in her teammates’ stats, as junior outside hitter Elia Rubin and sophomore opposite hitter Jordyn Harvey had 12 and 10 kills respectively, while attaining hitting percentages of over 30%. Moreover, Miner executed her dump shot to perfection several times throughout the game — even utilizing it during the match point to clinch Stanford’s victory.

In addition to Miner’s play, Stanford’s aggressive service attack — cultivated under the direction of eighth-year head coach Kevin Hambly — paid dividends for the Cardinal in Sunday’s match. Despite 13 service errors from the Cardinal, Texas appeared out-of-system many times off of Stanford’s serves, which put pressure on the Longhorns’ passing.

“In our gym, we’re not afraid of service errors,” Miner said. “We want to really put that pressure on and be confident in serving in high pressure moments, and serving tough. So that’s really the key to our success, to play defense behind a lot of service pressure. It gives us the confidence to go back there and just make our serves.”

The Cardinal were also able to limit Longhorns star Madisen Skinner, holding her to a .129 hitting percentage. Hambly utilized junior defensive specialists Anna Pringle and Taylor Beaven to bolster their backline defense, preventing Skinner from being as dominant as normal with 12 kills and eight errors. 

After Sunday, Stanford has clinched victories against four ranked opponents: Texas, Wisconsin, Marquette and Minnesota. 

But the Cardinal’s schedule certainly does not get any easier, as the team will face No. 5 Nebraska on Wednesday and No. 10 Kentucky on Saturday. However, if they win these additional ranked games, Stanford’s case to be the No. 1 overall team in the country could be solidified.

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