April 12, 2003
IRVINE, Calif. - The Stanford men's volleyball team clinched homecourt advantage for next weekend's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Playoffs with a 30-27, 30-27, 32-30 victory over host UC Irvine on Saturday night at Crawford Hall. The Cardinal will be hosting an MPSF Playoff match for the first time since 1997.
The 10th-ranked Cardinal (17-11 overall, 14-8 MPSF) finished fourth in the conference, and will host sixth-ranked and fifth-place UC Irvine (19-10, 12-10) in the MPSF Quarterfinals on Saturday, April 19. The time and site have yet to be announced. This will be the fourth meeting between the teams this season, with the Cardinal holding a 2-1 advantage.
Stanford secured fourth place by going 5-0 on a season-ending road swing to No.8 Long Beach State (3-1), UC San Diego (3-0), No. 4 Pacific (3-1), No. 11 UCLA (3-0) and UC Irvine (3-0). Stanford, which was 9-2 in MPSF road matches this season, won seven of its last eight conference matches after a 7-7 start.
"The guys who have been around the program a few years are really fired up about hosting a playoff match," Stanford head coach Don Shaw said. Three weeks ago, we told the guys that we have a chance to host if we can win out. We did that, and we did it convincingly."
The Cardinal, which swept UCLA on Friday night at Pauley Pavilion (30-23, 30-26, 30-26), out-hit the Anteaters .369 (57 k-16 e-111 ta)-.276 (53-21-116).
Senior All-American Curt Toppel (Pacific Palisades, CA) had 14 kills, four digs, four blocks and two service aces for the Cardinal, while senior Paul Bocage (Princeton, NJ) had 13 kills and a .706 (13-1-17) hitting percentage. Redshirt sophomore setter Kevin Hansen (Newport Beach, CA) added 50 assists and eight digs, while senior William Strickland (Malibu, CA) contributed 10 kills and seven digs.
"We just playing better every night, and gaining confidence," Shaw said. The come-from behind win at Long Beach State gave us confidence in tight games, and we now know we're going to make the plays at the end."
UC Irvine was led by 16 kills and five digs from Jimmy Pelzel.