Sept. 26, 2001
Long Beach, Calif. - The fourth-ranked Stanford Cardinal fell to the second-ranked Long Beach State 49ers 3-1 tonight in Long Beach, Calif., before a crowd of 3,904. Game scores were 27-30, 30-21, 21-30, 23-30. The crowd was the sixth largest in LBSU women's volleyball history.
Long Beach State's win tonight was only it's second in the series against Stanford. There only other win over the Cardinal came in 1978.
Game one stayed close between the two teams with neither one gaining more than a two point advantage, until, with the 49ers leading 19-17, LBSU pushed three quick points across to go up 22-17 and force a Stanford timeout. With the Cardinal trailing 20-24, a kill, service ace and block got Stanford to within one point. They tied the game at 25-all on a LBSU hitting error. With the game tied at 26-all, the 49ers strung together three points to reach game point. A quick kill by Logan Tom would hold off one game point, but LBSU took the game at 30-27 on a Brittany Hochevar kill. Freshman Ogonna Nnamani tallied six kills and hit .455 for the game.
With Long Beach State leading 4-3 to open game two, Stanford rallied off six consecutive points to go up 9-4. The Cardinal would extend their lead to 11-5 on a Logan Tom kill. Stanford continued to roll, going up 10 points at 21-11 on a block by Sara McGee and Robyn Lewis. The Cardinal would reach game point at 29-21 on a kill by Lewis. A LBSU hitting error gave Stanford the win at 30-21. As a team, the Cardinal hit .343. Logan Tom, Ogonna Nnamani and Tara Conrad contributed four kills each.
The 49ers opened game three with a 7-3 lead to force a Stanford timeout. Three more LBSU points after the timeout forced another one for the Cardinal. Stanford fought back to 10-13 on a service ace by Robyn Lewis but could not get any closer. A block by Jennifer Harvey and Lewis got the Cardinal to 17-20, however, LBSU rallied of five consecutive points. Long Beach State reached game point on a block. Stanford held off three game points before falling 21-30. The Cardinal only hit .024 for the game while LBSU hit .188.
With Long Beach State leading two games to one, the two squads battled back and forth early in the game. The 49ers took a 10-7 lead and extended that to 17-11, taking advantage of several Cardinal miscues. Stanford got to within five points at 20-25 on a LBSU hitting error and got within four at 23-27 on a kill by Sara McGee. But two kills by Brittany Hochevar and a kill by Tayyiba Haneef would seal the win for the 49ers at 30-23.
Stanford was led by Logan Tom's 15 kills, three service aces and 14 digs. Junior Ashley Ivy added 13 kills and five blocks to the Cardinal effort. Frosh Ogonna Nnamani had 14 kills and eight digs on the night. Senior setter Robyn Lewis tallied 48 assists, eight digs and four blocks.
Long Beach State was led by Tayyiba Haneef's match-high 21 kills. Cheryl Weaver added 16 kills and four blocks.
Stanford is next in action on Friday, September 28 against California in Berkeley, Calif. Match time is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Haas Pavilion.