NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball
Championships 1981-2016 Penn State
Stanford Nebraska UCLA Hawaii
7 7 4 4 3
Long Beach State 3 Southern California 3 Pacific Texas
Washington
2 2 1
Stanford’s net domination was a big factor in Columbus. Left, Inky Ajanaku hammered away against a three-person block after coming back from a serious injury to shine in her senior season. (Photo: Walt Middleton)
2016 NCAA Division I Championship Columbus, Ohio
Semifinals • Stanford def. Minnesota 26-24, 25-19, 22-25, 25-22
• Texas def. Nebraska 25-18, 25-23, 25-21
Final • Stanford def. Texas
25-21, 25-19, 18-25, 25-21
setter Madi Bugg. When she was told she’d no longer be setting, it stung. “The weekend [when the switch was
made] was really hard,” says Humphreys, who made 17 digs in the Cardinal’s four-set semi- final win over Minnesota. “I was really upset. But then when I walked into the locker room, it was hard to be upset. I love the sport, and I have amazing teammates. I just slapped myself in the face and thought, ‘You’re working for something bigger than yourself.’ And then I dug in and worked hard to get better.” Plummer, a native of Aliso Viejo, California, who distinguished herself at the international level in 2015 by becoming the first player in history to win FIVB age-group World Championship medals in both beach (gold) and indoor (silver), was similarly adaptable. A great example was her match- point swing. Instead of trying to muscle a ball through a big block, she hit high hands, a relatively new weapon in her arsenal. “I’m not sure she would have made that play a month before [the NCAA final],” Stan-
ford Associate Head Coach Denise Corlett says. “She was so strong in juniors that she would just overpower everybody, but she’s been learning to hit high hands and different shots. That was a great swing by her at that time in the match.”
Inky’s victory lap No one dealt with bigger change than se- nior middle Inky Ajanaku, who made a strong comeback this year – she was the NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Player – after ACL surgery kept her out the entire 2015 season. Along with long hours of rehab – “my mom and sister literally helped me learn to walk again,” she says – she recalibrated her original expectations, which were to finish her Stanford career last year with her own class – hopefully with a championship. “That was one of the most difficult things,” she says. “I had such an idea of Stan- ford as our class. We did everything together: learned together, grew up together. I went into this season excited for all the freshmen but also mourning the fact that I didn’t get my last year with all of the seniors.” The 6-3 middle from Tulsa, Oklahoma, dealt with those emotions by staying in close touch with her former teammates. She had Bugg help her prepare for matches by watch- ing video. She Snapchatted with Brittany Howard. She ate lunches and dinners with Jordan Burgess, who was still on campus. “Just being able to still have contact with them, I felt they were still helping me,” she
Stanford’s Merete Lutz used a 6-8 frame to form a one-person wall during the championship match. (Photo: Walt Middleton)
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