COLUMBUS, Ohio — Inky Ajanaku and Kathryn Plummer combined for 34 kills, and Stanford claimed its seventh NCAA championship on Saturday night with a 25-21, 25-19, 18-25, 25-21 win over Texas.
With the loss at Nationwide Arena, Texas (27-5) earned runner-up status for a second straight season. The Longhorns, who last won a national championship in 2012, were swept by Nebraska in last year’s title match.
Texas held 18-15 and 18-16 leads in the first two sets, but Stanford ran past the Longhorns to take a 2-0 lead. Needing to keep its championship hopes alive, the Longhorns then hit .344 in the third set.
Stanford, though, scored the first six points of the final set, which forced Texas to burn both of its timeouts. Texas never got closed than three points, and Stanford (27-7) won the NCAA title on Plummer’s 18th kill of the contest.
Freshman Micaya White led Texas with her 17 kills and 11 digs, and Ebony Nwanebu added 16 kills. Texas setter Chloe Collins closed out her career with 46 assists and 11 digs, and she exits Texas with the fourth-most assists in school history (3,679).
