Nnamani Sparks Stanford to Sixth Volleyball Crown

Stanford’s Ogonna Nnamani has had a long year between being the leader of the Cardinal women’s volleyball team in the fall and serving as an offensive weapon for the U.S. national squad at the Olympics this summer.

Nnamani had enough left Saturday to show why she was the best collegian in the nation this season as she had a match-high 29 kills to lead Stanford to a 30-23, 30-27, 30-21 victory over Minnesota in the NCAA championship match at the Long Beach Arena, giving the Cardinal its record sixth title.

Of the six that Stanford has won, this one is the most surprising. After consecutive road losses at Washington and California that dropped Stanford to 15-6, the Cardinal (30-6) won its final 15 matches.

“Once in a while, you get rewarded by being the last team standing, and we’re lucky that it’s us,” said Coach John Dunning, who also won the NCAA title in 2001 in his first season at Stanford.

In front of a crowd of 8,826, experience seemed to count most. The Cardinal was making its third appearance in a championship match in the last four years and fourth in the last six. Minnesota (33-5) was playing in its first final.

Led by Nnamani, its senior star outside hitter, Stanford outplayed the Gophers in every facet of the match. Outside hitter Jennifer Hucke contributed nine kills in 19 attacks and Kristin Richards added eight kills. Setter Bryn Kehoe was nearly flawless: She delivered 48 assists as the team had only 10 hitting errors for a .436 attack percentage.

“We pretty much fired on all cylinders,” Dunning said. “Bryn did a really, really good job, especially in decision-making. She made some marvelous choices to get our back row going as well as our outside.”

Nnamani, however, overshadowed everyone at this Final Four. After having 33 kills in 78 swings in Thursday’s semifinal win over Washington, she got the ball 48 times and committed only two errors as she was named the tournament’s most valuable player.

“The feeling that you have at game point and then the next point when you finally win, it’s one of the greatest feelings that you can have,” said Nnamani, who was named NCAA co-player of the year Friday.

Dunning said having Nnamani back after her Olympic experience proved invaluable.

“She was so far from nervous,” he said. “Everyone around her was relaxed.... The best thing she got from Athens, I think, is that she’s determined at a new level now. Ogonna has always been competitive, but not like this.”

Fittingly, the match ended when Nnamani drilled the ball from the back row before being smothered by her jubilant teammates.

“Our game plan was to just let Ogonna do her thing because she is going to,” Minnesota middle blocker Meredith Nelson said. “We got a lot of touches on her. She’s just a spectacular player.”

Minnesota, which was led by Erin Martin and Trisha Bratford with 13 kills each, battled through a tight second game and managed a 27-25 lead on a kill by Lindsey Taatjes. Stanford would finish the game with a five-point run highlighted by Hucke’s kill to end a long rally.

The Gophers were hurt early in the third game when libero Paula Gentil, their defensive star, was injured and did not return.