While their fellow students packed up and headed home for winter break, the No. 3 women’s volleyball team and the No. 9 men’s soccer team were hard at work trying to capture NCAA crowns. Both teams did better than the rankings predicted, returning home in second place.
As defending national champions, the women’s volleyball team went to the Final Four in New Orleans in December with a 31-4 record and hopes as high as an Ogonna Nnamani leap. After beating Hawaii, 3-0, the Cardinal women fell to the University of Southern California, 1-3. The Women of Troy posted a 31-1 season, with their only loss coming at the hands of Stanford in November.
Cardinal outside hitter and four-time All-American Logan Tom, ’03, was named Player of the Year—for the second time—by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. Tom, who is the only current collegiate player on the U.S. national team and is about 50 units shy of finishing her international relations degree, made her professional debut in January with the MRV/Minas of Brazil. Joining her on the All-America first team was junior middle blocker Sara McGee, who suited up as a rookie for the women’s basketball team a week after the championship game. Sophomore outside hitter Nnamani, who was named to the All-America second team, had a .327 kill percentage for the season.
Scoring on a header in the second overtime period, the men’s soccer team defeated Creighton, 2-1, in the NCAA semifinals and headed into the championship game against third-seeded UCLA. In two regular-season matchups, UCLA had won in the final minutes; and in Dallas, the Bruins pulled it off again, scoring the game’s only goal with two minutes remaining. Stanford ended the season 18-5-2 under second-year head coach Bret Simon, who said, “We gave it our best effort against UCLA. I told the team to hold their heads up. We had a great season.”
It was the second straight NCAA College Cup appearance for the team. Five seniors suited up in Cardinal red for the last time: All-Americans Todd Dunivant, who finished fifth in school history with 80 games played, and Roger Levesque; Johanes Maliza, right behind Dunivant with 78 games; Taylor Graham, a walk-on who became a two-year starter; and goalkeeper Andrew Terris, who recorded 87 saves in his Stanford career. In early February, Dunivant, Levesque, Graham and Maliza were drafted by Major League Soccer.
