March 29, 2001
LONG BEACH, Calif. - The fourth-ranked Stanford University men's volleyball team saw its three-match winning streak come to and end with a 30-22, 30-26, 24-30, 30-20 defeat at the hands of fifth-ranked Long Beach State on Thursday night at The Pyramid.
The win vaults the 49ers (14-6 overall) into second place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation's Pacific Division at 9-5, which is a half game ahead of the 7-4 Cardinal. Stanford, which is 11-5 overall, concludes its regular season with a six-game homestand that begins against #1 BYU (15-2, 9-2 Mountain Division) on both Monday and Tuesday nights at 7:00 p.m. at Maples Pavilion. Stanford has played 11 of its 16 matches this season on the road, including eight of its 11 MPSF contests.
The 49ers controlled game one throughout, leading 3-0, 11-4 and 19-10 beforewinning 30-22. Stanford, which was playing without star sophomore Curt Toppel for the third consecutive match (strained groin), hit .088 (12 k-9 e-34 ta) in the opening game.Game two was a tight one, with neither team leading by more than four. Leading 28-26, the 49ers closed out the match with back-to-back points.
The Cardinal rebounded in game three, leading throughout, and hitting .457 (16 k-5 e-32 ta) as team. Billy Strickland had seven of his 11 kills in the third game, while Paul Bocage added four kills and two blocks.
The 49ers closed out the match by jumping out to 8-0 and 13-2 leads in game four, and never letting the Cardinal get closer than seven points (16-9 and 24-17) the rest of the way.
Marcus Skacel led the Cardinal with 22 kills, while Strickland added 11 and Brett Youngberg 10.