April 7, 2001
STANFORD, Calif. - Fifth-ranked Stanford University (13-7 overall, 9-6 MPSF) clinched a berth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoffs with an easy 30-19, 30-23, 30-26 home win over 13th-ranked Cal State Northridge (11-14, 3-12) on Saturday night at Maples Pavilion.
The Cardinal is the seventh team to clinch a spot in the MPSF Playoffs, joining BYU, Hawai'I, Long Beach State, Pepperdine, UCLA and USC. The first round of the eight-team tournament is scheduled for Saturday, April 21, followed by the semifinals on April 26 and finals on April 28. Every match of the tournament is played at the site of the higher seeded team.
Stanford hit a season-high .557 as a team, recording 51 kills and just seven errors in 79 attempts. Sophomore Curt Toppel (Pacific Palisades, CA/Loyola HS) had a match-high 18 kills and hit .517 (18 k-3 e -29 ta), while junior Marcus Skacel (Laguna Niguel, CA/Santa Margarita HS) added 12 kills and senior Brett Youngberg (Surrey, B.C., Canada/Elgin Park Secondary) contributed 10 blocks. Senior setter Josh Lukens (San Diego, CA/Mt. Carmel HS) led the Stanford offense with 42 assists. The Cardinal out-blocked the Matadors 11-5, and recorded 24 digs to the visitors' 17. Billy Allen had 17 kills, seven assists and hit .471 (11-3-17) to lead Cal State Northridge.
The Cardinal took control early in game one by jumping out to leads of 10-2 and 22-10 before winning 30-19. Stanford sophomore Billy Strickland (Malibu, CA/Harvard-Westlake HS) recorded five of his six kills in the first game.
Stanford also started fast in game two, jumping out to an 18-9 advantage. The Matadors later fought off four game points before falling 30-23.The Cardinal hit .538 (17-3-26) in the second game, compared to the Matadors' .100 (9-7-20).
The Cardinal was dominant on both the offensive and defensive ends in game three. Stanford committed just one error en route to a .720 hitting percentage (19-1-25), and also recorded 12 of its 24 digs in limiting the Matadors to an .094 (11-8-32) clip. The teams were tied at 5-5, before the Cardinal scored 15 of the next 20 points to pull away to a 30-16 win.
Stanford closes out the regular season next week with a pair of matches at Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal hosts #9 UC Irvine (10-12, 5-9) on Friday and #3 UCLA (19-6, 11-4) on Saturday. First serve for both matches is 7:00 p.m.