Oct. 18, 2002
CALGARY, Alberta, Canada - Senior Billy Strickland (Malibu, CA/Harvard-Westlake HS) had 11 kills and four digs to lead Stanford University to an impressive 25-22, 25-21, 25-22 over host University of Calgary late Friday night at the Husky Dino Cup.
With the win, Stanford improved to 1-1 in pool play and can advance to the gold medal match with a victory over the University of Regina on Saturday morning at 11:00 a.m. (MT). Regina dropped a pair of three game matches on Friday to fall to 0-2 in the four-team round robin tournament. Regina fell to Calgary (1-1) 25-15, 25-23, 25-21 in afternoon action and lost to the University of the Pacific (2-0) 25-14, 25-15, 25-19 in the first match of the night session.
The Cardinal needed just 65 minutes to turn back the Dinos on Friday night in front of a crowd of 1,010 at Jack Simpson Gymnasium.
Stanford outhit Calgary by an impressive .293 (40 k-16 e-82 ta) to .161 (34-20-87) margin, and outblocked the Dinos 11.0-6.5. After posting a 25-22 win in game one, Stanford hit .476 (13-3-21) in game two to prevail 25-21. The Cardinal then held the Dinos to a .061 (10-8-33) hitting clip in game three to win 25-22 and wrap up the sweep.
Seniors Paul Bocage (Princeton, NJ/St. Joseph's) and William Curtis (Whittier, CA/Harvard-Westlake HS) added 10 kills apiece for the winners, while redshirt sophomore setter Kevin Hansen (Newport Beach, CA/Corona del Mar HS) chipped in 32 assists. Bocage added seven blocks, and freshman Ben Reddy (Waukesha, WI/Waukesha South) had a match-high eight digs.
Steve Brand and Andy Holland led Calgary with eight kills apiece.