April 13, 2001
STANFORD, Calif. - Fifth-ranked Stanford University (14-8 overall, 10-7 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) completed a regular season sweep of defending NCAA Champion and third-ranked UCLA (19-7, 11-5) with an 30-28, 30-28, 30-24 victory in its regular season finale on Friday night at Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal also beat the Bruins 3-2 (30-28, 30-27, 28-30, 27-30, 18-16) on March 9 in Los Angeles.
The win gave Stanford the sixth seed in the eight-team MPSF Playoffs, which begin on Saturday, April 21. The Cardinal tied with USC (13-18, 10-7) for the fifth spot, but the Trojans win the tiebreaker based on a 1-0 head-to-head advantage this season.
The Cardinal's opponent in the first round depends on the outcome of Saturday night's match between UCLA and Pacific (10-11, 6-9) in Stockton. If Pacific wins, the Cardinal will travel to Long Beach State (17-6, 12-5). If UCLA wins, the Cardinal will again face the Bruins. UCLA holds the tiebreaker advantage over Long Beach State based on their records against the respective teams in their divisions (UCLA 4-1, Long Beach State 3-2).
Stanford captured the first two games thanks to late rallies. In game one, the Cardinal came back from a 28-27 deficit by scoring three unanswered points to close things out. Sophomore Curt Toppel (Pacific Palisades, CA/Loyola HS) had five of Stanford's 14 kills in the opening game, and the hosts also took advantage of seven UCLA service errors.
The Cardinal led 22-20 in game two before the visitors scored eight of the next 11 points for a 28-25 advantage. Stanford then pulled off another rally with five unanswered points to take a 2-games-to-0 lead. Junior Marcus Skacel (Laguna Niguel, CA/Santa Margarita HS) hit .625 with six kills (6 k-1 e-8 ta) for the Cardinal in game two, while Bruin junior Ian Burnham (Santa Cruz, CA/Harbor HS) hit .625 with five kills (5-0-8).
Game three was all Stanford. The Cardinal bounced back from a 4-3 deficit by scoring nine of the next 11 points to take a commanding 12-6 lead. UCLA could get no closer than three points the rest of the game, while the Cardinal led by as many as nine before wrapping up the match in front of a season-best crowd of 1,218. Stanford hit .577 (18 k-3 e-26 ta) in the third, including a seven-kill, .778 (8-1-9) effort from Toppel.
Toppel led the Cardinal with 18 kills and four digs, while Skacel added 14 kills, five digs, three blocks and two service aces. Stanford also received big performances from seniors Josh Lukens and Brett Youngberg in their final career regular season matches at Maples Pavilion. Lukens had 40 assists and five digs, while Youngberg hit .667 with seven kills (7-1-9). The Cardinal finished the match with a .344 (49-16-96) team hitting percentage.
Matt Komer led UCLA with nine kills and three digs, while Scott Morrow added eight kills, four blocks and a .727 (8-0-11) hitting percentage. The Bruins hit .255 (44-20-94) as a team.