Feb. 11, 2000
San Diego, Calif. -- Stanford freshman middle blocker Curt Toppel (Pacific Palisades, Calif.) recorded a season-high 48 kills in Stanford's 15-4, 12-15, 15-10, 15-11 victory over San Diego State today in San Diego, Calif. The win broke the Cardinal six match losing streak, improving its record to 3-6 (3-4 MPSF) for the season.
Toppel, who entered the match after posting back-to-back 30 kill performances, hit a remarkable .526 on 76 total attacks. Entering the match, Toppel led the nation in kills-per game with a 7.84 average. Toppel's 48 kills places him in a tie with Matt Fuerbringer for fifth place on the Stanford single match kills list. Fuerbringer, Stanford's all-time kills leader, recorded 48 kills back in 1996.
For the match, Stanford recorded a .409 hitting percentage compared to San Diego State's .328 percentage.
Junior setter Josh Lukens tallied a season-high 89 assists in the match as a total of four Cardinal players compiled 10 or more kills. Sophomore outside hitter Markus Skacel had 16 kills, while freshman outside hitter Billy Strickland and junior middle blocker Brett Youngberg had 11 kills apiece. Lukens also led the team in digs with 11.
The Cardinal will return to action tomorrow as they travel to UC San Diego to take on the Tritons at 7:00 p.m.