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By Sam Spiller
Arizona Daily Wildcat
October 23, 1996
In Pacific 10 Conference volleyball, there is Stanford and then there is the rest.The No. 2 Cardinal is undefeated in conference play this season and has shown it is far and away the best team in the Pac-10. The only match Stanford lost was against 16th-ranked Pacific.
Despite Stanford's dominance, five teams in the Pac-10 made the Volleyball Magazine top 20 poll. Other than Stanford, those teams are No. 9 Washington State, No. 14 Southern Cal, No. 15 Washington and No. 17 UCLA.
The big surprise of the season has been the play of Washington. The Huskies are 7-2 in the Pac-10 and 17-3 overall. Last season Washington was sixth in the conference and failed to make the NCAA tournament.
Washington recently completed a sweep of Arizona and Arizona State in Seattle, which gives it a six-game home winning streak. The wins move the Huskies ahead of USC into second place in the Pac-10.
The Huskies are led by senior swing hitter Angela Bransom, second all-time at Washington in kills and attack attempts. She had 28 kills against Arizona.
Junior quick hitter Markare Desilets became the Huskies' all-time leader over the weekend with 381 career blocks.
Stanford freshman Kerri Walsh was named Pac-10 player of the week for the week of Sept. 14-20 after recording her second triple double - 28 kills, 13 digs, 10 blocks - of the year against No. 17 UCLA. Over the weekend she totaled 46 kills, 27 digs and 12 blocks while hitting .422.
Other nominees for player of the week were Arizona's Erin Aldrich, Oregon's Alli White, Oregon State's Heather Lowe, UCLA's Kim Krull from UCLA, USC's Jasmina Marinkovic, Washington's Bransom and Washington State's Keren Oigman.
Washington State's Sarah Silvernail and ASU's Terri Cox continue to be the best outside hitters in the conference. They faced each other in Pullman this weekend, with Silvernail's Cougars coming out on top.
Cox is ranked eighth in the nation in kills and fifth in digs. She has averaged a double double in 13 of the Sun Devil's 15 matches this season. Cox earned an honorable mention for the All-Pac-10 team last year. She led the Pac-10 in average digs and has two games with more than 25 digs this season. She is second behind Silvernail in average kills with 5.2 per game.
Silvernail needs seven kills to become the all-time leader at Washington State. She was named most valuable player at two of the three preconference tournaments the Cougars played in.
Silvernail recorded 40 kills this weekend, 24 of which came at the expense of the Wildcats. She has the most kills in a game this season with 39.
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