Feb. 24, 2002
Stanford, Calif. - The seventh-ranked Stanford men's volleyball team got 16 kills from Curt Toppel (Pacific Palisades, CA) and 10 digs from Seth Ring (Bend, OR) to lead the Cardinal to a sweep over USC (30-22, 30-25, 30-27) Sunday afternoon in Maples Pavilion.
Stanford improves to 9-7 on the season and 8-5 in the MPSF. USC falls to 5-13 and 2-10 in conference play.
The Cardinal took game one 30-22 behind five kills each from Paul Bocage (Princeton, NJ) and Toppel. Stanford held an 18-17 lead before Kevin Hansen (Newport Beach, CA) served up five consecutive points. The Cardinal took advantage of USC hitting errors to extend its lead until Bocage and Hansen connected on a block, winning the first game for Stanford.
Toppel registered seven kills and Craig Buell (Solana Beach, CA) four en route to Stanford's game two victory, 30-25. USC came back to tie the score at 22, but could get no closer. Toppel added an ace and Billy Strickland (Malibu, CA) a kill to lead 26-22. Following two Trojan hitting errors, Toppel and Buell recorded kills to put the Cardinal up two games to none.
USC scored the first two points in the third game on a kill from Brook Billings and a service ace from Mark Dusharme, but Stanford came back to knot the score at 2-2 and never looked back. The Cardinal never trailed the rest of the match, winning the game 30-27. Kyle Strache (Malibu, CA) and Chris Sandman (San Jose, CA) came off the bench in game three to combine for seven kills and five blocks in the Stanford attack.
Toppel recorded a match-high 16 kills, followed by six each from Bocage and Marcus Skacel (Laguna Niguel, CA). Ring added 10 digs and Hansen dished out 44 assists.
The Trojans were led by Brook Billings and Beau Rawi who registered 14 and 11 kills, respectively. J.T. Gilmour handed out 38 assists.
The Cardinal will next be in action when they travel to Long Beach to face the Waves on March 1st.
1 2 3 USC (5-13, 2-10) 22 25 27 No. 7 Stanford (9-7, 8-5) 30 30 30