Cardinal Beats No. 13 USC 3-0

Stanford, Washington St. to Meet in Pacific Regional Final

STANFORD, Calif. -- Junior outside hitter Kristin Folkl hit .633 with 22 kills and six digs to lead Stanford University (28-2) to a 15-3, 15-7, 15-7 win over No. 13 USC (21-9) in the NCAA Tournament Pacific Regional semifinals on Friday night at Maples Pavilion. In the other match, Washington State (27-5) defeated Loyola Marymount (26-3) 15-12, 11-15, 15-13, 15-8.

The Cardinal and the Cougars will meet on Saturday at 7 p.m. for the right to advance to the Final Four in Cleveland on Dec. 19-21.

Stanford, the top seed in the 48-team tournament, reeled off the final 10 points of the game one, behind the serving of freshman Jaimi Gregory. Folkl also added four kills in the run as Stanford took a 1-0 lead.

The Cardinal then used a 7-0 run to close out game two and a 10-0 run to take a 12-3 lead in the third and final game. The win marked the fourth straight time Stanford has knocked USC out of the NCAA Tournament, and the ninth time in the last 13 years.

"I'm very happy with this result," Stanford head coach Don Shaw said, "On offense we did a great job. We were very patient, passed the ball well and prevented USC from having a run. We waited for our opportunity to come around and then took advantage of it."

"I think Stanford is playing really well and is deserving of the number one seed," USC head coach Lisa Love said. "We came in with what we thought was a good game plan and we didn't stay with it long enough in some areas of our game."

Freshman Kerri Walsh added 12 kills and seven digs and junior setter Lisa Sharpley 41 assists, seven digs and four blocks for the Cardinal, which won its 47th straight match at Maples Pavilion.

Sophomore middle blocker Jasmina Marinkovic led the Trojans with 16 kills.