Jan. 22, 2003
HONOLULU, Hawai'i - The 11th-ranked Stanford Cardinal dropped a 30-28, 30-27, 27-30, 30-28 decision to top-ranked Hawaii late Wednesday night at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu. The Warriors improved to 5-0 overall and 1-0 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, while the Cardinal dropped to 2-5 and 0-3.
Hawai'i took control of the match in game two. The game was tied at 17-17, but Stanford used runs of 4-1 and 4-2 to streak to a 27-22 lead. The Warriors, however, scored the final eight points of the game, highlighted by a service ace by Tony Ching on game point.
The Cardinal answered with an impressive comeback of its own to win game three. The Warriors led 25-21, but the Cardinal came back with eight unanswered points with William Strickland at the service line. Hawai'i scored the next two points to cut it to 29-27, but the Cardinal closed out the game on a Hawai'i service error.
Stanford led for almost the entire fourth game before Hawai'i rallied to win the game and the match. The Cardinal held a 24-20 lead late, but Hawai'i scored six of the next eight points to tie the game at 26-26. After the score was tied again at 28-28, Hawaii used kills from Costas Theocharidis and Ching to close out the match.
Senior Curt Toppel (Pacific Palisades, CA) led Stanford with 25 kills and five digs, while senior Paul Bocage (Princeton, NJ) added 11 kills and a match-high seven blocks. Freshman Chris Ahlfeldt (Manhattan Beach, CA) and senior William Curtis (Whittier, CA) contributed nine kills apiece. The Cardinal hit .314 (74 k-24 e-139 ta) for the match, and out-blocked the Warriors 12.0-11.5.
Hawai'i, which hit .360 (74-24-139) for the match, was led by 26 kills and eight digs from Theocharidis and 20 kills, 12 digs and three service aces from Ching.
In game one, Stanford led 16-13 before Hawaii rallied to tie the game at 19-19. The game remained close and was tied again at 28-28, before the Warriors scored the final two points to close it out.
The two teams will meet again on Friday at 10:00 p.m. (Pacific Time) in Honolulu.