Notables
- Fresh off of finals week, No.5 Stanford travels to Baton Rouge, La. to compete in LSU’s Death Volley Invitational March 28-29. The Cardinal is set to meet No. 2 TCU, No. 7 Florida State, No. 8 Texas, and host No. 11 Tigers throughout the two-day event.
- Due to predicted inclimate weather conditions Saturday in Baton Rouge, timing of previously scheduled matches may be moved throughout the event. Keep up-to-date with all changes on Stanford Beach Volleyball’s X page.
- All 4 matches will be streamed on VBTV with live commentary on court 1 and live streams on all other courts, free to all viewers. Live stats are not available for this weekend’s matches.
- Before its break for finals week, Stanford captured four 5-0 sweeps at home March 14-15, hosting Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Utah, and Saint Mary’s for a weekend of duals. Through 18 matches, the Cardinal sits with a 13-5 record, including 11 5-0 victories.
- Stanford’s No. 5 pair of Emmy Sharp and Daria Gusarova hold an 8-0 record as a duo in the 2025 season. Individually, the two are 11-0 (Sharp) and 10-0 (Gusarova) on the year and are the lone two members of the Cardinal’s squad with an unblemished record (that have seen action in at least four matches) throughout the 2025 campaign.
- After this weekend’s action in Louisiana, Stanford will have played a top-15 opponent in 13 of its first 22 matches. All of the Cardinal’s 2025 losses have come to a team ranked at least in the top 7 of the AVCA Beach Volleyball Poll, with two losses coming from No. 1 UCLA, one from No. 3 USC, one from No. 7 LMU, and one from then-No. 2 TCU.
- The Cardinal and Longhorns meet for the first time in either team’s history, as the Texas beach volleyball program is in just its second overall season, its first season as a member of the CCSA, and its first campaign without indoor women’s volleyball team members on its roster.
- The 2024 season cemented Stanford beach volleyball’s position as one of the best programs in the country, guided by its best-ever record and countless wins over top-ranked teams from across the nation. The Cardinal made its fourth consecutive appearance at the NCAA Championship, earning the second-highest at large bid behind UCLA, and won its first-round match at the national title chase 3-0, just the second national championship tournament victory in program history.
- The nation and conference both celebrated the Cardinal’s incredible 2024 season, as Stanford tabbed seven conference honors, four all-America selections and two top-flight awards. Then-freshman Brooke Rockwell was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and was also selected as a member of the Pac-12 All-Conference First Team with partner senior Xolani Hodel and fellow freshman Ruby Sorra. Junior Taylor Wilson was named to the all-conference second team. Rockwell was also part of the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team and was joined by Sorra. Rockwell is the Cardinal's first conference player yearly award winner since 2017, when Kathryn Plummer won the same award. Stanford's three first-team selections and two pairs (Hodel and Rockwell, Wilson and Sorra) earning honors both marked new program-bests.
- For the first time in program history, four members of the Stanford beach volleyball program were named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association All-America Teams. Rockwell and Hodel were each named to the All-America First Team while Wilson and Sorra each earned second-team honors. Hodel became a four-time all-American with this year's honor, selected to the first team last year and the second team in 2021 and 2022, while Rockwell, Sorra, and Wilson each earned their first all-American recognition. Rockwell was the lone freshman on this year's first team and her and Sorra made up half of all freshmen selected as All-Americans in 2024.
- Sorra and Wilson, alongside Belardi and Hoffman, each were honored as AVCA 2024 Top Flight award winners. The Top Flight program, now in its sixth year, recognizes beach pairs who compete in at least 15 matches together at a specific flight and win at least 75% of their matches
- Stanford's momentum for the future continues to be bright with a youth-dominated program and a strong recruiting class joining as freshmen for the 2025 season. Joining the Cardinal on The Farm this season are Charlotta Bell, Indigo Clarke (sister of junior Phoenix Clarke), Babi Gubbins, Elena Fisher, Avery Jackson, Ofure Odigie and Logan Tusher.
- Next up, Stanford returns to the friendly confines of The Farm for a single match against the University of San Francisco, April 2 at 3 p.m. before travelling to Long Beach, Calif. April 4-5 to take on Long Beach State’s Best in the West tournament. The Cardinal is slated to meet No. 4 USC, No. 16 North Florida, Washington and host No. 9 LBSU over the two-day competition held in Laguna Beach, Calif.