Well- it was a good loss to the extent there is one, but still (being a fan of course) a little disappointing. Stanford definitely seemed to pick their game up later in the match, but the Buffs still had things that were within their control (unforced hitting errors after set one, some passing/ serve receive issues later on) in every set they lost (especially set 2) that if converted just a little better could have gotten them the win. Overall, though, definitely great to see they can play with anyone, and competing hard- now they just need to tighten up a few things up each point/ game/ match to get just a LITTLE more consistent, and they can beat anyone. I'm not taking anything away from Stanford- It was easy to see they are a nice veteran team who knows how to win, as their play picked up as the pressure mounted.
One thing for Sunday and beyond, although hopefully it's nothing- Taylor Simpson left the match near the end of the match and I believe didn't return. No idea for sure what might have happened, but I do remember an earlier play where a Stanford player spiked it hard to one of our players, and their dig attempt went sideways hard into Taylor's face. So, if I had to guess, there's a chance they were just playing it safe with their concussion protocol (as they should with anything head related), or it could be something completely different. Again, hopefully it's nothing serious and they were just playing it safe, and she's fine. (She didn't come out until late in the 5th set when the Buffs were pretty far down, so I wouldn't say her leaving affected the outcome of the match in any way.)