Jan. 25, 2002
Stanford, Calif. - The second-ranked Stanford men's volleyball team got a match-high 18 kills from junior Curt Toppel (Pacific Palisades, CA) en route to the team's 3-0 sweep of No. 15 CS Northridge on Friday night at Maples Pavilion. Game scores were 30-27, 30-28, 30-22.
The Cardinal won their second match in a row and improved to 4-1 overall, 3-1 in the MPSF. The Matadors fall to 3-3 and 0-2 in MPSF conference play.
Stanford jumped out to a 6-3 lead behind kills from Toppel and Paul Bocage (Princeton, NJ) to start game one. Northridge came back to tie the match at 23-23, but could not get any closer. The Cardinal went on to win the game 30-27, led by Toppel's seven kills and Chris Sandman's (San Jose, CA) three blocks. Eckhard Walter hit a game-high nine kills for the Matadors.
Game two proved to be close, with Northridge jumping out to a 8-4 lead. Following a Cardinal timeout, Stanford rallied to tie the game at 18-18. Both teams traded points, with Stanford scoring three straight behind the serving of Toppel to pull ahead 26-24. A Matador hitting error and a Toppel kill from Kevin Hansen (Newport Beach, CA) gave the Cardinal the 30-28 game two victory.
In game three, Northridge led 7-4, but the Cardinal tied the game at 11-11. Freshman Craig Buell (Solana Beach, CA) provided a spark off the bench, collecting three blocks in the final game. After tying the score, Stanford never looked back and hit a .438 clip to Northridges' .152 to win the game 30-22.
Stanford was led by Toppel's 18 kills and five digs, while Strickland added nine kills. Seth Ring (Bend, OR) recorded eight digs and Hansen finished with a match-high 46 assists. The Cardinal dominated the net, out-blocking Northridge 11-6. Walter had a team-high 17 kills for the Matadors, while Nils Nielsen added 15.
The Cardinal will return to action this Sunday to face No. 6 UC Santa Barbara in a MPSF conference match. First serve is set for 1 p.m. at Maples Pavilion.
1 2 3 No. 2 STANFORD 30 30 30 No. 15 CS Northridge 27 28 22