April 1, 1999
STOCKTON, Calif. The Stanford men's volleyball team could not hold a two-game lead and fell to No.12 Pacific in five games tonight at the Spanos Center. Game scores were 13-15, 11-15, 15-8, 15-6, 15-12.
The Cardinal came out early in game one, and took a 12-6 lead behind senior outside hitter Patrick Klein's second service ace of the frame. But the Tigers rebounded, scoring six straight to even the score. Stanford held on, and a Pacific mishit gave the Cardinal the game.
Stanford took another early lead in the second set, but again, allowed the Tigers to tie the score, this time at eight points apiece. Klein added 10 kills in this frame alone, and one of Marcus Skacel's career-high 15 kills on the night secured the game victory. As a team, the Cardinal hit .444 and showed a strong defensive effort with three blocks.
Unforced errors by Stanford allowed Pacific to take the third and fourth games, but the Tigers also stepped up defensively, posting six blocks in the third frame and seven in the fourth as the Cardinal's hitting percentages were sliced in half.
The momentum in the fifth game swung between the two teams, but the Tigers outperformed Stanford and took the match victory. Klein posted his sixth double-double of the season with 35 kills and 11 digs. Junior outside hitter Josh Palacios contributed a career-high 17 digs in the losing effort.
The Cardinal falls to 8-9, 6-9 in the MPSF. Pacific improves to 11-8, 8-7 in league play.
Stanford will return to The Farm to play UC San Diego on Sun., April 4. The match will begin at 3 p.m. in Burnham Pavilion. The Cardinal defeated the Tritons in four games in the teams' first meeting this season, March 23.
Stanford15158612 Pacific 1311151515