THIS WEEK: No. 1 Stanford (3-0) travels to College Station, Texas to face No. 5 Penn State (3-0) on Friday at 4:30 p.m. PT and Texas A&M (2-0) on Sunday at 9 a.m. PT.
CATCH THE CARDINAL: Live stats for the matches can be found on the women's volleyball schedule page on GoStanford.com. Sunday's match will air on SEC Network (+).
SOCIAL MEDIA:
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SCOUTING PENN STATE: Penn State opened the season with wins over Tennessee-Martin, Delaware and West Virginia. The Nittany Lions hit .469 as a team during the opening weekend and held their opponents to a .004 attack percentage - lowest in the nation. Senior outside hitter Simone Lee led Penn State with 3.67 kills on .407 hitting. Senior middle blocker Haleigh Washington added 2.56 kills and 1.00 blocks per set, while senior opposite Heidi Thelen recorded 2.22 kills on .679 hitting.
THE SERIES WITH THE NITTANY LIONS: One of the greatest rivalries in collegiate volleyball, Penn State holds a 10-9 advantage over Stanford in the all-time series. Stanford won the meeting last season in Boulder, Colorado, a sweep for the Cardinal in the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge.
SCOUTING TEXAS A&M: Texas A&M swept Sam Houston State and VCU to open the 2017 season. The Aggies hit .292 and put down 1.83 aces per set. Senior outside hitter Kiara McGee led the team with 4.17 kills on .435 hitting. Sophomore Hollon Hans added 3.33 kills, while freshman setter controlled the offense with 11.00 assists per set.
THE SERIES WITH THE AGGIES: Stanford is 4-1 all-time against the Aggies. The teams last met in the 2015 season opener, where the Cardinal swept A&M at Maples Pavilion.
PRESEASON All-PAC-12: Stanford led the conference with four Preseason All-Pac-12 selections. Merete Lutz is being recognized for the third time in her career, while Audriana Fitzmorris, Morgan Hentz and Kathryn Plummer were also tabbed to the list.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Stanford plays 13 of its first 17 matches away from Maples Pavilion. In fact, nine of its first 11 matches will be played on the road or on a neutral site.
NATIONAL POLL: Stanford moved up to No. 1 in the AVCA Poll with 53 first-place votes. It marks the 69th time the Cardinal has sat atop of the poll. Minnesota, Florida, Texas and Penn State round out the top 5. Six Pac-12 squads are ranked in the top 25, including No. 8 Washington, No. 11 UCLA, No. 14 Oregon, No. 18 USC and No. 22 Utah.
BY THE NUMBERS: The 2016 season marked Stanford's 36th consecutive NCAA postseason appearance. The Cardinal is one of only two programs in the nation to have appeared in every NCAA Tournament since the NCAA Championship began in 1981 (Penn State is the other). Stanford has won more NCAA Tournament matches (115), made more Final Four appearances (20) and been in the national championship match (15) more times than any other program in the nation. It's seventh NCAA title also ties Penn State for the most by a Division I team.
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Kathryn Plummer became the second Stanford player to be named the AVCA Freshman of the Year and was the 12th Cardinal player to be named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. She led the Cardinal in kills (3.34) and points (3.97) per set in 2016.
AVCA ALL-AMERICANS: Four Cardinal players were named All-Americans by the AVCA in 2016, bringing Stanford's total AVCA award count to 89 honors spread over 37 players. Inky Ajanaku and Kathryn Plummer earned first team recognition, while redshirt junior Merete Lutz was named to the third team. Audriana Fitzmorris collected honorable mention honors. It marked the fourth straight season in which the Cardinal had produced at least four All-Americans.
PAC-12 CONFERENCE FINISHES: The Cardinal finished tied for second in the Pac-12 in 2016 with UCLA at 15-5. It marked the 28th top-2 standing in conference play in the past 31 seasons. Stanford has won 16 conference championships in the Pac-10/12 era, and 19 overall in program history. Stanford has claimed seven of the past 11 Pac-12 titles.
HEAD COACH KEVIN HAMBLY: Kevin Hambly was named the head coach of the Cardinal on Jan. 30, 2017 after spending eight seasons at the helm at Illinois. The 2011 Volleyball Magazine National Coach of the Year, Hambly led the Illini to six NCAA regional appearances and the 2011 national title match. He coached 12 AVCA All-Americans to 19 honors during his time at Illinois.
