March 29, 2003
STANFORD, Calif. - Top-ranked Pepperdine University outlasted 11th-ranked Stanford University 37-35, 41-39, 30-28 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's volleyball action at Burnham Pavilion on Saturday night.
The Waves improved to 19-3 overall and 16-2 in the MPSF. The Cardinal, which had two game point opportunities in the first game and seven more in the second, fell to 12-10 and 9-8.
In game one, Stanford jumped out to leads of 14-8 and 18-13 before the Waves finally drew even at 28-28. The Cardinal had game points at 29-28 and 33-32, but Pepperdine finally converted on its sixth game point to win 37-35.
Game two was close throughout, and featured a combined total of 12 game points before Pepperdine closed it out at 41-39. Stanford had game points at 29-28 and 30-29, but the Waves came back and had four games points of their own. Stanford answered back, and had five more game points, the last at 39-38, before the visitors scored three straight points to close out the game. The game ended on back-to-back kills by Pepperdine junior Mike Winters and senior Brad Keenan. Pepperdine out-hit Stanford .281 (26 k-10 e-57 ta)-.129 (20-12-62) in game two, and won the blocking battle 6.0-2.0.
The Waves led by as many as four points (19-15) in game three, but Stanford closed within one at 26-25. Stanford could get no closer, as Pepperdine eventually closed out the match on a Cardinal service error.
Senior Curt Toppel (Pacific Palisades, CA) led Stanford with 16 kills and six digs, senior William Strickland (Malibu, CA) had 15 kills and six digs and senior Paul Bocage (Princeton, NJ) pitched in 10 kills, four blocks and a .500 hitting percentage (10-2-16).
Sophomore Sean Rooney led Pepperdine with 20 kills, 11 digs, five blocks and a .486 (20 k-2 e-37 ta) hitting percentage, while Keenan added 13 kills and four service aces. The Waves out-hit the Cardinal .298 (62-23-131)-.265 (59-24-132), and out-blocked the Cardinal 10.0-5.0.
Saturday's match was the final regular season home contest for five Cardinal seniors --- Bocage, William Curtis (Whittier, CA), Kyle Strache (Malibu, CA), Strickland and Toppel.
Stanford begins a five-match road swing at No. 4 Long Beach State on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The Cardinal will then travel to unranked UC San Diego next Saturday at 7:00 p.m.