PALO ALTO – Inside Maples Pavilion, the first round of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament featured three Stanford players with double digit kills. Foluke Akinradewo (14), Cynthia Barboza (14) and Kristin Richards (12) led the Cardinal to a 3-0 (30-18, 30-18, 30-26) win over the Hornets on Saturday evening.

After a match that Hornet coach Debby Colberg described as a “near-flawless” performance by Stanford, Colberg talked about how preparation for the Cardinal and playing against them are two different things.

“Anybody that plays against Stanford is going to have their hand’s full,” Colberg said.

Despite the Hornets leading total attacks over Stanford by 13, Stanford hit 55 kills and shot for .376, marking the highest hitting percentage by a Sac State opponent this season.

In game one, Stanford displayed their strength and physical presence on the court by maintaining a dominating lead over the Hornets and ended game it at 30-18. Stanford sophomore Foluke Akinradewo had an early lead in game one with eight kills.

“Any game that starts off with a lot of intensity, we’re going to carry it on throughout the match,” Akinradewo said.

It was much of the same in game two as Stanford finished 30-18, where the Cardinal went on a four-point streak to end the round. During both games, Stanford maintained a steady lead over the Hornets.

In game three, the Hornets began to muster a comeback as the team kept it close against Stanford and both teams battled over the lead. Sac State began to capitalize on digs and serving mistakes made by Stanford, Colberg said, and the Cardinal team wasn’t playing as crisp as it did in the first two games.

With the score tied 26-26, Stanford broke away on a four-point streak in some key rallies.

The team tried its best to keep its hands on the ball on defense, senior Kristin Lutes, said, but it was the speed and the shooting ability of the Stanford players that made it hard to contend with.

This marks the team’s ninth NCAA playoff appearance since the school began Division I-A competition in 1991. Under coach Colberg, the Hornets have only qualified past the first round once with a win against Houston in 1998.

The Hornets entered into Stanford territory after being crowned the Big Sky Conference Champions with a 3-1 match win over Eastern Washington in the conference finals.

Stanford came into the match fresh off its Pac-10 conference title win and advances to the next round to face a Missouri team that is coming off of a shutout win over Santa Clara in the early game. The teams will match up at 7 p,m. Sunday night in the Maples Pavilion.

Matthew Beltran can be reached at [email protected]