The No. 3 Stanford women’s volleyball team had a few scares last night but nonetheless finished the night with a 3-0 sweep of Arizona. It was not all positive for the Cardinal, though, as two players collided and another was injured.

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Senior Franci Girard (right) was involved in a nearly devestating on-court collision with freshman Gabi Ailes in the third game against Arizona. Both, however, returned to play as the Cardinal swept the Wildcats. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/8036
Sammy Abusrur

Senior Franci Girard (right) was involved in a nearly devestating on-court collision with freshman Gabi Ailes in the third game against Arizona. Both, however, returned to play as the Cardinal swept the Wildcats.

Stanford (18-1, 7-1 Pac-10) fought off a tenacious Wildcats squad (12-8, 2-6) to win in three games, 31-29, 30-24, 30-28. Freshman Gabi Ailes and senior Franci Girard shook off their collision, but junior Jessica Fishburn sprained her ankle during the second game and did not return.

The Cardinal won a serving battle, making fewer errors than the Wildcats, to win the first and then stepped up its offense to make it a sweep. Arizona staged a dramatic comeback late in the third, but Stanford held strong to secure the win.

The first three points of the match were scored on errors as Arizona missed two swings and the Cardinal missed a serve. The teams together missed six of their first 16 serves. Neither team could build a lead as the score was tied 19 times in the game. Stanford won on its second game point, 31-29, on an Arizona miss.

In the first game alone, the Cardinal missed five serves and the Wildcats missed ten.

The second game saw both teams making fewer errors from the service line and the Cardinal playing more in command, en route to a 30-24 victory. Stanford broke an early tie with a five-point run featuring two aces by senior setter Bryn Kehoe. Arizona came within one point of a tie at 21-20, but the Cardinal finished the game on a 5-1 tear, with two kills and three blocks.

Stanford burst out of the gate in the third game, forcing Arizona to use its second timeout with a 5-1 Stanford lead. The Cardinal led by six when libero Ailes and middle blocker Girard collided diving for a ball. Both players were slow to go up, but both continued to play and finished the match. With the Cardinal shaken, Arizona scored five straight points and ended up tying the game at 12.

The Wildcats held a slight edge through the middle of the third game, with the Cardinal fighting back to even the score at 20. Arizona scored four straight to force a Stanford timeout and the Cardinal responded with a 10-4 run to end the match in three games.

Freshman outside hitter Cassidy Lichtman served four straight points, including an ace, to tie the game coming out of the timeout, and junior middle blocker Foluke Akinradewo served out the match with a four-point run of her own. Two Stanford kills and two Arizona errors ended the game in Stanford’s favor.

Akinradewo led the Cardinal with 11 kills and a single error in the match. Junior outside hitter Cynthia Barboza had ten kills and freshman outside Alix Klineman had nine.

Klineman was also Stanford’s top blocker with two solo stuffs and an assist. Girard finished with three blocks as well, all of them assists.

Ailes notched a team-high 12 digs while Barboza was second with nine.

Kehoe dished out 36 assists and led the team with two aces. Barboza, Klineman and Lichtman each served an ace as well.

For Arizona, Randy Goodenough had 12 kills, but 10 errors, and Tiffany Owens had 11 kills. Libero Alanna Resch dug a match-high 15 balls. Dominique Lamb, second in the Pac-10 in blocks per game coming into the match, did not have one in the match.

Stanford will be back in action tonight in Tempe, visiting Arizona State, who lost in four games to No. 9 Cal last night. The Cardinal will be on the road next week as well, visiting No. 4 USC and No. 7 UCLA.