STANFORD, Calif. >> The chilly rain sweeping through town on Thursday caught Elena Oglivie by surprise.

Even so, the task of trying to stay dry on a gloomy day in Palo Alto beats an early December trip to Minnesota.

“Minnesota was so cold, and the snow, it’s not for me,” Oglivie, an ‘Iolani alumna, said of Stanford’s assignment for the opening rounds of the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament a year ago.

That trip, which ended with a quick second-round loss to the host Gophers, provided fire for the Cardinal when the calendar turned.

After winning back-to-back national championships in 2018 and ’19, Stanford went 2-8 in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. After finishing 19-11 last year, the Cardinal reclaimed a place among the nation’s elite this season in winning the Pac-12 title and earning one of the four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.

“Losing to Minnesota, getting swept, not playing our best, really motivated all of us who were on that team to put more work in and know what we need to do to perform at that level,” Oglivie said after Stanford’s practice in Maples Pavilion in preparation for today’s first-round match with Pepperdine.

A former All-State Player of the Year as an ‘Iolani outside hitter, Oglivie made the transition to a full-time role in the back row when she began her college career in 2020. Her personal progress tracked along with the team’s collective climb and she was named the Pac 12 Libero of the Year earlier this week.

“Elena’s developed into being not a good libero, but a great libero,” Stanford coach Kevin Hambly said.

“(She’s) more assertive vocally and more assertive as a player; just looking to make plays, looking to clean things up. just taking charge of the defense. She’s just what a libero should be.”

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Oglivie topped the Pac-12 with 4.35 digs per set to help the Cardinal hold opponents to a league-best .198 hitting percentage while handling the first contact for a Stanford attack hitting .292. She posted more than 20 digs in seven matches with a career-high 28 against Oregon State last week in the conference title clincher.

Oglivie has looked to expand her range in the back row to “really alleviate stress from my teammates who have to do other things like hit or set and take that pressure off of them by controlling the first touch.”

Oglivie acknowledges she misses hitting at times, but, like many Hawaii players, she has been grounded in defense since her early days playing for coach Debby Yee with the Jammers Volleyball Club.

“She really drilled in the fundamentals and foundation of defense and not letting the ball touch the floor,” Oglivie said. “Every team is scrappy in Hawaii, every school team or club team, so it’s fun to be in that environment.”

After Hawaii takes on LSU to open today’s sub-regional doubleheader, there will be an island presence on both sides of the net in the match between Stanford and Pepperdine, led by Punahou graduate Scott Wong.

“It’s just the depth of talent in Hawaii that’s so rich that it’s hard not to have such a good spreading of talent throughout the country and it’s pretty neat to see,” Wong said on Thursday.

“You continue to see the passing down of the accumulated information and the wisdom from older players. And then it gives younger players a vision and a path to take steps to learn and grow, and I think thats’a rare thing.”