April 13, 2002
Malibu, Calif. - The seventh-ranked Stanford men's volleyball team got a match-high 24 kills from junior opposite hitter Curt Toppel (Pacific Palisades, CA) but it was not enough as top-ranked Pepperdine extended its winning streak to 13 matches as the Waves outlasted the Cardinal by scores of 30-28, 23-30, 30-28, 30-21 in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) match played in front of 1,806 fans at Firestone Fieldhouse.
Stanford end its regular season at 16-9 and 15-7 in conference play. Junior middle blocker Brad Keenan added 20 kills along with six blocks, as Pepperdine improved to 25-4 overall and 20-2 in MPSF play.
Sophomore outside hitter Fred Winters collected 18 kills, 14 digs and four blocks, while freshman outside hitter Sean Rooney added 13 kills and 12 digs for the Waves.
Pepperdine notched a .425 team hitting percentage and outblocked the Cardinal by a sizeable 24-5 margin. Stanford was held to a .296 clip for the match.
Junior outside hitter Billy Strickland (Malibu, CA) collected 15 kills for Stanford, while senior outside hitter Marcus Skacel (Laguna Niguel, CA) added 10 kills. Seth Ring (Bend, OR) finished with a match-high 14 digs and Kevin Hansen (Newport Beach, CA) dished out 54 assists.
The Cardinal will find out tomorrow (April 14) if they will host a first round MPSF Tournament match against an opponent to be determined next Saturday, April 20, at Maples Pavilion beginning at 7 p.m.
1 2 3 4 No. 7 Stanford 28 30 28 21 No. 1 Pepperdine 30 23 30 30