Women’s volleyball in the Pacific-10 Conference is always a battle, but this weekend the stakes are higher than ever. No. 2 Stanford hosts No. 6 USC and No. 5 UCLA on Friday and Saturday in a clash of the league’s best. Among them, the three schools have won 12 NCAA championships, including four of the last five.

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Grant Hochstein

Junior outside hitter Franci Girard (6) and sophomore outside hitter Cynthia Barboza led the Cardinal to a win last weekend over Cal. This weekend they try to repeat their sweep of the LA schools, this time in Palo Alto.

“I think there should be a good number of people watching in a great facility with great teams playing,” Stanford head coach John Dunning said. “And these games really mean something — the Pac-10 title race will definitely be affected this weekend.”

When Stanford (20-2, 11-1 Pac-10) played the Bruins (24-2, 11-2) and Trojans (21-3, 10-3) on the road earlier this year, the Cardinal handed each their first loss of the season, both times in front of raucous home crowds.

“When we got to that week, we didn’t know how good we were, and we wanted to show ourselves just how well we could play,” Dunning said. “It was exciting and a great challenge. We knew that they were undefeated and we were playing on their court. We came in excited and well prepared.”

While this weekend’s crowds may not reach the reported 5000 who saw the USC match in October, the Cardinal hope to pack Maples for these crucial matches. Student admission will be free for both matches, and faculty and staff will get in for $2 Saturday. For such low admissions fees, the fans should get quite a show.

Since those last meetings, the Cardinal have not lost a match, most recently beating No. 12 California on the road. Both UCLA and USC lost in Seattle to No. 4 Washington, and the Bruins beat the Trojans when they went head-to-head.

“I don’t think that they are any more beatable now [than in Los Angeles], except for the fact that, when you are undefeated, it doesn’t cross your mind that you can lose,” Dunning said. “They are good teams with good players and well-coached and they are still confident, but have some doubt this time, since we already played and won on their court.”

The Cardinal spoiled the opening of USC’s Galen Center, stunning the previously undefeated Trojans with a three-game sweep, 30-20, 30-26, 30-28. Sophomore outside hitter Cynthia Barboza led Stanford with 18 kills, two aces and 14 digs. Sophomore middle blocker Foluke Akinradewo and senior outside hitter Kristin Richards chipped in 12 each and junior middle blocker Franci Girard notched 10 along with a team-high five blocks.

Asia Kaczor had a team-high 15 kills for the Trojans and All-American libero Debora Seilhammer led all players with 21 digs.

Against the Bruins the next night, Barboza and Richards again spearheaded the Stanford offense, recording 21 kills each in the five game (30-27, 27-30, 25-30, 30-25, 15-10) victory. Akinradewo contributed 18 kills and seven blocks, while Richards played phenomenal defense to finish with 26 digs. Junior setter Bryn Kehoe dished out 66 assists while her team hit .300 in the match.

Katie Carter led the Bruins with 19 kills, and Nana Meriwether, just named Pac-10 Player of the Week for the third time in 2006, had 17.

“With any team in the top 10 and even deeper than that, there is usually someone you will think is the best and is the most talked about,” Dunning said. “[Kaczor and Meriwether] are the players who get the most focus on those teams, but any top team will have a handful of great players. So you have to do your best to stop those two, but you can’t worry about just one person — they may do their damage, but you just have to play your best.”

The Cardinal’s best has been pretty good lately. The team’s .302 hitting percentage is the third best in the nation and Akinradewo, hitting .444 is fifth among individuals (Meriwether leads Division I hitting at a .483 clip). Since returning from southern California, Stanford has scored four sweeps and a four-game win last Friday in Berkeley.

“Last week’s practice was unusual,” Dunning explained. “Because we had been pushing so hard for so long, playing high-level matches, traveling and tons of school work — midterms were really piling up on our team — we only had one full team practice. I thought we were road warriors, but played a step slower than we had been. But there is nothing I think needs to be changed from the weekend.”

Heading into this week’s matches, Barboza leads the Cardinal with 313 kills and 31 aces while Akinradewo has a team-high 96 blocks. Kehoe is averaging 13.03 assists per game and sophomore libero Jessica Fishburn has tallied 263 digs. Richards, who is second in defense with 203 digs, is only six away from the all-time record at Stanford, set by four-time All-American Kristin Klein, ‘92.

“When people accomplish amazing things, you owe it to them to pay attention,” Dunning said. “It’s just part of what happens when you play at this level, but she should be applauded because it is quite an accomplishment. She is a great player and we are happy for her — she deserves it.”

In addition to the free admission for students, Stanford has made Saturday “Dig for the Cure.” Fans will have the opportunity pledge money to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation for each dig. The Cardinal will also be selling pink hair ribbons worn by the players.