Miami Falls to No. 5 Stanford

STANFORD, Calif. – The No. 14 University of Miami volleyball team (15-4, 5-3 ACC) dropped the hard-fought battle, 3-1, to the No. 5 Stanford Cardinal (16-3, 7-1 ACC) on Sunday evening at the Maples Pavilion.

The Hurricanes tallied a season-high 60 kills, 50 digs, six aces and hit .225. Senior Flormarie Heredia Colon earned 20 kills, while senior Dalia Wilson secured five blocks along with 10 kills on a .526 clip.

Stanford started with the 11-6, but Miami kept fighting and went on two 3-0 runs after two kills from Heredia Colon and a dig kill from Naylani Feliciano to cut it to 15-17. As the Cardinal started to pull away, the Hurricanes took five consecutive points to tie it at 20-all with three kills from Amina N’Diaye. Despite Miami hitting .351, Stanford took the narrow 25-23 set win.

The second set opened close but the Hurricanes pulled away as they went on a 7-0 run to lead 15-11 with back-to-back aces from Rodriguez and kills from Vergara and Mariam Mushkudiani. Stanford came back to tie it at 17-all and took the lead 24-20, but Miami came back on a 4-0 run to ultimately even the match at 27-25.

Set three stayed within one for both teams as Miami led 12-11 with Heredia Colon’s 16th kill. Stanford started to gain a cushion as they led 16-12 but kills from Mushkudiani and Wilson helped tie it at 18-all. Another kill and block from Mushkudiani gave Miami the 24-23 lead, until the Cardinal took the set, 26-24.

The Cardinal took control of set four, as they hit. 455 as a team to lead 17-10 as Miami only had six kills. The Hurricanes started to chip away, earning four consecutive points to try to cut the deficit.

The Hurricanes will head home to host Virginia Tech and Virginia on Oct. 24 and 26, respectively.