No. 15 Stanford lost 3-2 at No. 23 North Carolina on Sunday, Oct. 25, at Carmichael Arena in Chapel Hill. The set scores were 17-25, 25-17, 25-20, 20-25, 11-15. It was Stanford's first five-set match of the season. The Cardinal fell to 13-7 overall and 6-4 in the ACC. UNC improved to 14-4 and 9-1.
The turning point
Stanford led 6-3 in the fourth set when setter Logan Parks was hit going up for a block and had to leave. Taylor Yu and Lilly Wagner were both unavailable, so freshman outside hitter Simone Roslon replaced her. Stanford said it played without a setter on the court for most of the fourth set, and North Carolina outscored the Cardinal 17-10. Parks came back late in the set and finished with 45 assists.
Stanford standouts
- Julia Blyashov: 20 kills, 12 digs and a career-high five blocks. It was her third straight 20-kill match.
- Lizzy Andrew: 14 kills on .400 hitting, 11 blocks and two aces.
- Ipar Kurt: 12 kills, and five blocks to tie her career best.
- Ella Andrews: seven kills and eight blocks.
- As a team, Stanford had a season-high 19 blocks.
UNC middle blocker Jackie Taylor had 13 kills on .480 hitting and 14 blocks, the third-most blocks in a match in Tar Heels history. North Carolina went on an 8-0 run in the fifth set.
Next: two Big Spike matches
Stanford plays Cal twice this week. The first match is Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 7 p.m. in Berkeley, and the second is Friday, Oct. 30, at 7 p.m. at Maples Pavilion. Last week the Cardinal beat Duke 3-1.