Welcome to This Week in Sports. We are The Daily’s sports editors, Madeline Grabb and Ells Boone, and we’ll be walking you through the major games, events and stories from the past week, as well as providing a brief preview of what’s coming up this week.
No. 2 Stanford women’s golf competed in the three-day Pac-12 Championships this past week, earning a third place finish. Sophomore Rose Zhang, however, was the star of the entire event, winning the individual championship en route to her 10th career win — a new school record. Her score of 204 set the Pac-12 Championship record for lowest score. The previous record was set in 2016. The team will now wait to hear its fate for NCAA Regionals, with the selection show taking place Wednesday at 10 a.m. PT.
No. 8 Stanford men’s volleyball hosted the MPSF Tournament in Maples Pavilion this past weekend and made it to the final for the second year in a row. In the quarterfinals, the Cardinal took down No. 12 USC 21-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-15 fueled by strong play from senior outside hitter Kevin Lamp. In the next round, Stanford got past No. 6 BYU in five sets. Just last week, the Cardinal had lost to BYU in two consecutive matches in Provo. After a day’s break, No. 2 UCLA awaited Stanford in the finals and the Bruins continued their undefeated streak against MPSF opponents, taking down the home team in straight sets. Senior outside hitter Will Rottman and redshirt senior Justin Lui were named to the All-Tournament team. Despite its high ranking, Stanford did not make the field for the NCAA Tournament, so its season is over.
No. 9 Stanford baseball got its week off to a rough start, losing 15-13 to Sacramento State last Tuesday. Junior first baseman Carter Graham shined in the loss, as he hit two home runs. Over the weekend, the Washington Huskies came to Sunken Diamond and the Cardinal took the series 2-1 to get back on track in the Pac-12 after dropping a series to Oregon a week prior. In the final game of the series with the Huskies, Stanford came back from being down 4-0 to win the ballgame 8-6. Junior pitcher Drew Dowd picked up the win. Next up, the Cardinal will take on Cal in a midweek clash this Tuesday at 6:05 pm.
This past Friday, No. 7 Stanford women’s tennis finished its undefeated Pac-12 regular season by beating Cal 6-1. The Cardinal will now turn their attention to the Pac-12 Championships being held later this week in Ojai, Calif. Stanford enters as the top seed.
No. 17 Stanford men’s tennis dropped both of its matches this past weekend in the Pacific Northwest — to Washington and Oregon, respectively. In the first match against the Huskies, the Cardinal were shorthanded with junior Arthur Fery and freshman Samir Banerjee sitting out. With a depleted lineup, Stanford was taken down 4-1 by Washington. Against Oregon on Sunday, Fery returned for doubles but Banerjee remained out. The scoreline stayed the same with the Ducks taking the match 4-1. The team now is set to face Cal in the Pac-12 quarterfinals on Thursday.
Women’s lacrosse had a very productive week, beating Colorado and Oregon to move to second place in the Pac-12. The Cardinal took down the Buffaloes 18-13 and then beat Oregon 16-9 on senior day. The regular season finale will be this coming Friday at 3 p.m. PT across the Bay against Cal.
No. 2 women’s water polo earned another top-10 win, beating No. 6 Cal 16-9 in Berkeley. Redshirt junior driver Ryann Neushul scored four goals to lead the Cardinal. The MPSF Tournament is coming up next weekend in San Jose, and Stanford will face San Jose State in its first match-up.
In a one-off game against BYU in Provo, No. 5 Stanford softball shut out the Cougars 1-0. Both star pitchers — freshman NiJaree Canady and senior Alana Vawter — pitched for the Cardinal. The team then returned to Palo Alto and hosted Cal for a weekend series where Stanford prevailed 2-1. In the deciding third game of the series, Freshman Kyra Chan hit a sacrifice fly to lead her team to a 3-2 victory. Softball will travel to Fresno on Wednesday to take on Fresno State in a midweek clash.
In its final weekend of action before the Pac-12 Championships, No. 10 beach volleyball won all four of its match-ups, two against top 10 opponents (No. 7 Grand Canyon and No. 9 Cal). The Cardinal took on Grand Canyon and Cal on Friday, winning both by a score of 4-1. On Saturday, Stanford beat both Santa Clara and Pacific 5-0. The Cardinal will host the Pac-12 Championships, with the competition set to begin on Wednesday.
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