Feb. 17, 2001
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Fourth-ranked Stanford University (7-1 overall, 4-1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) won its fourth road match in five tries this season by defeating host UC San Diego (1-9, 0-8) 27-30, 30-24, 35-33, 33-31 on Saturday afternoon at RIMAC Arena.
The win gives the Cardinal a 2-1 record in its three-game road swing through UC Santa Cruz, Pepperdine and UC San Diego. Stanford now returns home for crucial MPSF matches against #10 Pacific on Wednesday and #7 USC on Friday. Both matches are set to begin at 7:30 p.m. at Maples Pavilion.
After the teams split the first two games, Stanford survived several Triton match points in both games three and four to claim the victory. The Tritons had game point opportunities in game three, but the Cardinal outlasted the hosts 35-33 in the longest game either team has played all season. Stanford then survived three more UCSD game points in the fourth game before coming from behind for a 33-31 win and its seventh victory in eight matches this season.
Sophomore outside hitter Curt Toppel (Pacific Palisades, CA/Loyola HS), who was the 1999 MPSF Freshman of the Year, led the Cardinal with a match-high 29 kills, nine digs, four blocks and a .373 hitting percentage. Junior Marcus Skacel (Laguna Niguel, CA/Santa Margarita HS) added 22 kills and seven digs, while 6-foot-8 senior middle blocker Brett Youngberg (Surrey, B.C., Canada/Elgin Park) had a double-double of 12 kills and 10 blocks along with a .550 hitting percentage. Also for Stanford, senior setter Josh Lukens (San Diego, CA/Mt. Carmel HS) had 72 assists, six digs and four blocks in his return to his hometown.
Senior Donald Chen led the Tritons with 17 kills.