March 6, 2007

Stanford vs. No. 12 Long Beach State - Friday, March 9 (7:00 pm)

Stanford vs. UC San Diego - Saturday, March 10 (7:00 pm)

COMING UP: Stanford Men's Volleyball (2-18, 1-13 MPSF) faces No. 12 Long Beach State (7-9, 4-8 MPSF) and UC San Diego (5-12, 2-10 MPSF) for the second time this season this weekend at home. The Cardinal are coming off of a split this past week in which they fell to Pacific 3-0, and swept the Quincy University Hawks in non-conference action last night.

STANFORD FALLS TO UOP: The No. 9 ranked University of the Pacific swept Stanford in three games 30-23, 34-32, 30-21 last Friday night. Game one was dominated by the Tigers, as they led by as many as eight points. UOP finished with a margin of seven points with the score of 30-23. The Cardinal brought excitement to game two, controlling most of the game until the final two points. Freshman Kawika Shoji moved to the outside during the game as Miki Groppi entered the match to set for the team. However, the change in lineup was not enough to get a game win, as UOP outlasted Stanford 34-32. Tied at 13-13 in game three, things looked promising for Stanford. However the Tigers went on a run and scored 17 of the last 25 points to capture the win. Middle blocker Brandon Williams ended the match with 10 kills, while Garrett Werner added seven block assists. The Tigers' Dan Hammer had a career-high 14 kills and six block assists. Junior middle Simon Chen-Byerley hit .583 for the night.

STANFORD CRUISES PAST QUINCY FOR WIN: Stanford walked away with a win against Quincy in last night's non-conference match in Burnham Pavilion. The Cardinal finished the match hitting .326 as a team, notching 23 digs and 10 block assists. Setter Miki Groppi tallied 37 assists. Stanford got off to a good start in game one as Freshman Kawika Shoji started a 3-1 point advantage from the service line. Stanford had a balanced attack both on the net and out of the back row. The team hit .406 for the first game to Quincy's .182. Strong play at the net started game two off nicely for the Cardinal. The team had two blocks and two kills off overpasses by Brandon Williams to lead 4-0. Stanford continued to lead the game. Stanford continued their steady play both offensively and defensively. At 28-19 the Hawks gained momentum, however it was not enough to hold Stanford back. The Cardinal won the third game on a kill by Evan Romero.

ABOUT THE 49ERS: Long Beach State fought through a pair of five-game battles at home this past week, upsetting UCLA and falling to UC Irvine. A game five attack of .611 lifted the 49ers over the Bruins. Dean Bittner led Long Beach State with a 21-kill evening at .432. In the loss to UCI, the 49ers dished out 17 aces, one shy of an all-time MPSF record.

In their last meeting with the 49ers on February 2, the Cardinal fell in three games, 18-30, 23-30, 25-30. Stanford never got full control of the first game as Long Beach State led in points the entire way, and Stanford hit minus .143 on the game. Stanford's offense had a better showing in the second game but could not stop their opponent's seven-point run. In game three, Stanford was able to hold off two match points for the 49ers but were not able to take a game from Long Beach.

Sophomore Dustin Watten ranks second in the MPSF in digs (2.49 digs per game) for the 49ers. Junior Paul Lotman ranks third in aces and fourth is kills (4.40 kpg) in the MPSF.

ABOUT THE TRITONS: UC San Diego fell 3-0 to both UC Irvine and UCLA on the road. UCSD could not compete with the dominating Anteaters, as UCI hit .436 and held the Tritons to just .027 hitting. UCSD's attack had a better showing against UCLA, however the Bruins out-hit the Tritons and added solid defense for the win.

In their last meeting with the Tritons on February 3, the Cardinal bested UCSD in five games, giving Stanford their first win of the season. Stanford charged ahead of UC San Diego 2-0, however the Tritons rallied to tie the match 2-2. In the end, Stanford's determination and poise gave them the winning edge as they came out on top 30-26, 30-27, 19-30, 26-30, 15-11. The Cardinal attack was led by senior Matt Ceran with 21 kills on .340 hitting, sophomore Brandon Williams with 18 kills on .500 hitting, and freshman Evan Romero, who added 14 kills. Freshman Kawika Shoji's added a season high 61 assists for the Cardinal as well.

Sophomore Eric Leserman holds the number one spot for digs in the MPSF, averaging 3.07 digs per game.

UP NEXT: After a two and a half week hiatus, Stanford returns to action as they travel to play Cal State Northridge and UC Santa Barbara on March 30 and 31.