Former St. James Academy volleyball stars lead Stanford to national semifinals in KC

The best Division I women’s volleyball teams in the country will play for a national title at the Sprint Center this week.

Among the final four in the NCAA championship, which Kansas City previously played host to in 2010, are seven-time champions Penn State and Stanford, four-time winner Nebraska and Florida, which has never won.

For Stanford sophomores Audriana Fitzmorris and Jenna Gray, the tournament is a homecoming. They were stars at St. James Academy, where they led a nationally-ranked team to four Kansas Class 5A championship games, winning three of them.

Their success continued in college. Stanford won the national title last year for the first time in 12 years, due in large part to contributions by Fitzmorris and Gray. In the title match, Fitzmorris made 10 kills and Gray tallied 51 assists.

Now the third-seeded Cardinal (30-3) returns to the biggest stage in college volleyball for another trophy, led by Pac-12 player of the year and fellow sophomore Kathryn Plummer.

Gray has effortlessly controlled her team’s offense. She was the conference’s setter of the year and is tied for third in the nation with 12.14 assists per set.

Fitzmorris, who finished the regular season with 1.46 blocks per set, also earned All-Pac-12 honors. She posted 10 kills and five blocks Saturday night, helping Stanford sweep Texas and earn a spot in the final four.

“It has been in the back of my mind, for sure, but just try to focus one game at a time,” Fitzmorris said in a team release. “I remember being back in Kansas City back in 2010 and watching that championship there. I am glad to be able to be back in that environment.”

Stanford will play No. 2 seed Florida (29-1) in the semifinals Thursday night, about 30 minutes after top-seeded Penn State (33-1) faces No. 5 seed Nebraska (30-4) at 6 p.m.

The championship game will be played Saturday at 8 p.m.

Tickets can be purchased at sprintcenter.com and at the Sprint Center box office.

This story was originally published December 10, 2017 at 5:12 PM with the headline "Former St. James Academy volleyball stars lead Stanford to national semifinals in KC."