Dec. 15, 1997

Stanford Volleyball Nabs Fourth Straight Final Four Bid

STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford University qualified for its fourth consecutive NCAA Womens Volleyball Final Four by sweeping through the Mountain Regional at Maples Pavilion last weekend. The Cardinal defeated both Colorado and UC Santa Barbara in three games to increase its winning streak to 26 matches and move two steps closer to becoming the first NCAA Division I womens volleyball program to win three national titles in four years.

Stanford opens Final Four play against top-ranked Long Beach State at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday night at the Spokane Arena in Spokane, Washington. Penn State will meet Florida in the other semifinal.

Complete Final Four schedule:

Thursday, December 18
Florida vs. Penn St. 6:00 p.m.
Stanford vs. Long Beach St., 8:30 p.m. (or 45 minutes after completion of first match)
Saturday, December 20
National Championship Match, noon

SENIOR DOMINANCE: The five members of Stanfords senior class - Kristin Folkl (St. Louis, MO/St. Josephs Academy), Barbara Ifejika (Brampton, Ontario, Canada/Mayfield Secondary), Debbie Lambert (Kaneohe, HI/Punahou HS), Paula McNamee (Wheaton, MD/Sidwell Friends HS) and Lisa Sharpley (Los Altos, CA/Los Altos HS) - have a chance to be the first NCAA womens volleyball players to win three titles in four years. The class of 98 has won NCAA titles in 1994 and 1996, and is 123-8 (.939) overall on The Farm. In addition, Folkl, Ifejika, Lambert, McNamee and Sharpley are 64-1 (.985) at Maples Pavilion, 70-2 (.972) in the Pac-10 and 76-7 (.916) against ranked opposition.

RADIO/TV SCHEDULE: The Stanford-Long Beach State match will be aired on a tape delayed basis on Friday, December 19 at 9:30 p.m. (PT) on ESPN2. The championship match will be aired live on Saturday, December 20 at noon on ESPN2. Stanford student radio station KZSU (90.1 FM) will also broadcast both matches live.

NCAA NOTES: Stanford is one of only four schools that has earned a berth in all 17 NCAA Tournaments (since 1981), along with only Pacific, Penn State and UC Santa Barbara ... The Cardinal holds the all-time record for most tournament wins with 47 ... UCLA is second with 44 ... This season, Stanford has played 12 tournament qualifiers and has won 18 of those 20 matches ... Stanford has now advanced to a record 11 out of the 17 Final Fours ... UCLA is second with 10 Final Four appearances ... The Cardinal has finished first three times (1992, 1994, 1996), second three times (1987, 1985, 1984), third three times (1995, 1986, 1983) and fourth once (1982).

THE RECORDS: Stanford has now won 26 straight matches (23 of them in three games), and travels to Spokane with a 31-2 record. Stanford can tie the school record of 27 straight wins (9/4/91-11/27/91) with a victory over Long Beach State on Thursday. The Cardinal has now broken the 30-win barrier for the fifth time in the 1990s, and eighth time overall. The Cardinal advanced to the Final Four with a 15-7, 15-3, 15-1 win over Colorado on Friday and a 15-12, 15-12, 15-3 victory over UC Santa Barbara on Saturday in the Mountain Regional at Maples Pavilion. Long Beach State is 33-1 after posting home wins over Washington 15-4, 15-5, 15-13 on Friday and Nebraska 15-9, 15-9, 15-3 on Saturday to win the Pacific Regional. Penn State, the only team to beat Stanford in 1997, is 33-1 following home wins over Ohio State (15-4, 15-4, 15-10) on Friday and BYU (15-0, 15-12, 15-10) on Saturday to win the East Regional. Florida is 34-3 after beating Washington State 3-0 (15-10, 15-6, 15-8) on Saturday and Wisconsin 3-2 (8-15, 14-16, 15-7, 15-11, 15-5) on Sunday to win the Central Regional in Madison, Wisconsin.

THE COACH: In his 14 years on The Farm, Stanford head coach Don Shaw has amassed the best winning percentage in NCAA Division I history. Shaw, who served as co-head coach with Fred Sturm in 1984-85 before taking sole control in 1986, has a career mark of 380-63 (.858). Shaw, the 1997 Pac-10 Co-Coach of the Year and District 8 Coach of the Year, has led Stanford to three NCAA titles, six Pac-10 titles and eight Final Four appearances. He has guided the Cardinal to a 123-8 (.939) record in the last three-plus seasons, including a 70-2 (.972) mark in the Pac-10. Brian Gimmillaro of Long Beach State is 358-92 (.796) in his 13th year, Penn States Russ Rose is 619-118 (.840) in his 19th season and Floridas Mary Wise is 317-87 (.785) in her 11th season.

THE SERIES: Stanford is 10-1 all-time against Long Beach State, and 1-0 vs. the 49ers in the NCAA Tournament. Ironically, the teams last met in the NCAA Semifinals in 1992 in Albuquerque, New Mexico with Stanford winning 15-10, 15-12, 6-15, 15-9 en route to its first national title. The Cardinal is 1-2 against Penn State, and 0-2 this season. The Nittany Lions defeated the Cardinal 15-8, 15-13, 15-9 in the finals of the State Farm/NACWAA Classic at Stanford on August 23 and 14-16, 15-6, 15-12, 15-7 at the Connecticut Ikon Husky Invitational on September 6. Stanfords only meeting with Florida was a 15-12, 15-10, 10-15, 15-8 Cardinal win on September 4, 1994 in Gainesville that snapped the Gators NCAA Division I record 58-match home winning streak.

THE RANKINGS: Stanford is ranked No. 1 in the nation by Volleyball Magazine and No. 3 by the USA Today/AVCA. Long Beach State is ranked No. 1 by the USA Today/AVCA and No. 2 by Volleyball Magazine. Penn State is No. 2 in the USA Today/AVCA and No. 3 in Volleyball Magazine, while Florida is No. 7 in Volleyball Magazine and No. 8 in the USA Today/AVCA.

THE WEEK IN REVIEW: Match #32 - #3 Stanford d. #20 Colorado 15-7, 15-3, 15-1 (December 12 @ Maples Pavilion): Stanford outhit Colorado .442-.091 en route to the easy 72-minute win that sent the Cardinal to the regional finals. Senior Kristin Folkl hit .542 with a match-high 14 kills and eight digs to lead the Cardinal, while senior Barbara Ifejika and sophomore Kerri Walsh (Saratoga, CA/Archbishop Mitty HS) added seven kills apiece. In the other semifinal, UC Santa Barbara defeated Texas 15-13, 16-14, 15-6. Match #33 - #3 Stanford d. #5 UC Santa Barbara 15-12, 15-12, 15-3 (December 13 @ Maples Pavilion): Stanford locked up its fourth straight Final Four appearance behind Mountain Regional MVP Kerri Walshs 18 digs and 16 kills. Senior Kristin Folkl also added 19 kills to up her single season total to 568, and break the school single season mark of 563 set by Teresa Smith in 1986. Stanford outblocked the Gauchos 13-6, and held UCSB to a .000 hitting percentage in the third game. Walsh was joined on the all-tournament team by Folkl, teammate Lisa Sharpley, UC Santa Barbaras Tanja Hart and Katie Crawford and Demetria Sance of Texas.

FOLKL, SHARPLEY, SHAW, WALSH EARN ALL-DISTRICT HONORS: Senior Kristin Folkl was named to the All-District 8 team for the fourth time in her career, it was announced on Wednesday. Joining Folkl on the all-district team are Lisa Sharpley (third selection) and Kerri Walsh (second selection). All three are now eligible to earn AVCA All-American honors, which will be announced on Wednesday. In addition, Stanford head coach Don Shaw was named District 8 Coach of the Year, marking the third time he has won that honor (1992 and 1994).

FOLKL NAMED PAC-10 PLAYER OF THE YEAR; SHAW CO-COACH OF THE YEAR: Senior outside hitter Kristin Folkl was named Pac-10 Player of the Year on November 25 after leading Stanford to its fourth straight conference title. Folkl ranks second in the conference in attack percentage (.372) and kills per game (5.46), and also earned Pac-10 and National Player of the Week honors on November 3. Cardinal head coach Don Shaw shared conference coach of the year honors with USCs Lisa Love after leading Stanford to its sixth Pac-10 title. Shaw also earned conference coach of the year honors in 1987 and 1991. Folkl was named to the All-Pac-10 First Team along with Barbara Ifejika, Lisa Sharpley and Kerri Walsh, while Jennifer Detmer (Thousand Oaks, CA/Thousand Oaks HS) was named to the All-Freshman Team. On the Pac-10 All-Academic Team, Folkl and Sharpley were named to the First Team, Ifejika the Second Team and Debbie Lambert and Sarah Neal (Pacific Palisades, CA/Brentwood HS) Honorable Mention.

FOLKL ENJOYING CAREER YEAR: Kristin Folkls great season continues to get even better. Stanfords all-everything two-sport star was named Pac-10 Player of the Year on November 25 and All-District 8 on Wendesday, December 10. The Cardinal co-captain now has a school single season record 568 kills entering Thursday (old record 563, Teresa Smith, 1986) and has also moved into second on the all-time school kill list with 1,796 behind only Kristin Kleins (1988-91) 1,909. The St. Louis, Missouri native has played four seasons of volleyball and two seasons of basketball on The Farm, and led the Cardinal to the Final Four on all six occasions. Folkl, who has two years of basketball eligibility remaining, is scheduled to join Tara VanDerveers squad following the conclusion of the volleyball season.

WALSH BACK ON TRACK: First Team All-American and 1996 National Freshman of the Year Kerri Walsh has avoided the sophomore jinx in her second year on The Farm. In addition to All-American and Freshman of the Year Honors, Walsh was named the 1996 Final Four Most Valuable Player, First Team All-Pac-10, All-Pacific Regional and AVCA National Player of the Week. This season, Walsh has earned All-District 8, First Team All-Pac-10, Mountain Regional MVP and Pac-10 Player of the Week (November 17) honors. She has done this despite surgery on her right shoulder in April that has limited her to 88 games played and 565 attacks this season.

OFFENSE THRIVES UNDER SHARPLEY: Senior setter Lisa Sharpley, a First Team All-Pac-10 and All-District 8 selection in 1997, is running the Cardinal offense for the fourth straight year, and the second in the 5-1 set. Sharpley shared setting and hitting duties with two-time National Player of the Year Cary Wendell in 1994 and 1995, but has served as the primary setter the last two seasons. Sharpley has 4,164 career assists and ranks third in school history behind Wendy Rush (5,003; 1984-87) and Carrie Feldman (4,461; 1989-92). Sharpley was also named Pac-10 Player of the Week for the third time in her career on October 6 after recording 71 assists (11.83 pg), 19 digs and four blocks in road wins at USC and UCLA.

USA Today/AVCA
(Final regular season)
1. Long Beach State (30-1)
2. Penn State (30-1)
3. STANFORD (28-2)
4. Wisconsin (30-2)
5. UC Santa Barbara (30-4)
6. BYU (27-5)
7. USC (21-5)
8. Florida (31-3)
9. Nebraska (25-6)
10. Arizona (20-6)
11. Washington State (24-6)
12. Texas (23-6)
13. Washington (18-9)
14. Pacific (22-8)
15. Hawaii (25-7)
16. Texas A&M (24-7)
17. Pepperdine (23-5)
18. Arkansas (29-5)
19. Maryland (26-1)
20. Colorado (20-8)
21. Colorado State (26-5)
22. Loyola Marymount (21-6)
23. San Diego (25-3)
24. UCLA (16-12)
25. Ohio State (21-9)

Volleyball Magazine
(Final Regular Season)
1. STANFORD (28-2)
2. Long Beach State (30-1)
3. Penn State (30-1)
4. Wisconsin (28-2)
5. BYU (27-5)
6. UC Santa Barbara (30-4)
7. Florida (31-3)
8. USC (21-5)
9. Arizona (20-6)
10. Nebraska (25-6)
11. Hawaii (25-7)
12. Washington State (24-6)
13. Texas A&M (24-7)
14. Texas (23-6)
15. Pacific (22-8)
16. Washington (18-9)
17. Pepperdine (23-5)
18. San Diego (25-3)
19. Arkansas (29-5)
20. Maryland (26-1)

Stanford University Women's Volleyball