Feb. 16, 2002
Stanford, Calif. - The No. 8 Stanford men's volleyball team had four athletes post double-digit kill numbers en route to upsetting top-ranked UCLA 3-1 (29-31, 30-24, 31-29, 30-25) on Saturday night in Burnham Pavilion. Junior opposite hitter Curt Toppel (Pacific Palisades, CA) recorded a match-high 18 kills for the Cardinal en route to ending the Bruin's 10-match winning streak.
With the win Stanford improves to 8-6 overall and 7-4 in MPSF play. UCLA picked up its second loss of the season to stand at 12-2 overall, 7-1 in the conference.
Both teams started off on fire, each hitting over .500 in game one. With the score tied at 28-28, both team traded kills to stay tied at 29-29. Chris Pena put a kill down for UCLA to bring up game point. Matt Komer then served up an ace to give the Bruins game one 31-29. Kris Kraushaar dominated the first game, recording six kills and hit for a .750 clip.
The Cardinal controlled the second game and never fell behind. UCLA tied the game up at 9-9, but could get no closer. A Marcus Skacel (Laguna Niguel, CA) kill put Stanford up 20-13, but the Bruins crawled back to get within 24-21 on consecutive kills by Paul Johnson. Skacel recorded his fifth and sixth kill of the game to put the Cardinal up 28-24. Craig Buell (Solana Beach, CA) pounded a kill and Toppel, Skacel and Buell all connected for a triple-block, winning game two 30-24.
Hitting errors were the story of the game three, with each team hitting below .080 for the game. Stanford found themselves down, but rallied back behind kills from Buell to tie the score at 26. Both teams traded kills and hitting errors before a Toppel service ace put the Cardinal up 29-28. Following a Stanford service error, a kill by Chris Sandman (San Jose, CA) and an UCLA attack error gave the Cardinal the third game 31-29.
With Stanford up 2-1, three hitting errors by the Bruins got the Cardinal rolling going up 4-0 in the fourth game. Stanford controlled the match the rest of the way, until a Toppel kill down the line gave the Cardinal the game and match 30-25.
Toppel led the Cardinal with 18 kills, seven digs and three service aces. Billy Strickland (Malibu, CA) added 16 kills and four solo blocks. Skacel and Buell each chipped in 12 and 11 kills, respectively, while Seth Ring (Bend, OR) recorded a match-high 13 digs. Setter Kevin Hansen (Newport Beach, CA) dished out 59 assists and added nine digs.
UCLA was led by Komer, who finished with 16 kills and nine digs. Cameron Mount added 14 kills and Rich Nelson dished out 60 assists and recorded 12 digs.
The Cardinal will continue their homestand when Pepperdine and USC come to town next weekend. Stanford will take on the Waves on Friday night at 7 p.m. and follow-up with the Trojans on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. Both matches will take place in Maples Pavilion.
1 2 3 4 No. 1 UCLA (12-2, 7-1) 31 24 29 25 No. 8 Stanford (8-6, 7-4) 29 30 31 30