April 5, 2003
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Stanford University moved just one win away from clinching a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoff berth with a convincing 30-20, 30-20, 30-27 victory over host UC San Diego on Saturday night at RIMAC Arena. The Cardinal improved to 14-11 overall and 11-8 in the MPSF, while the Tritons fell to 6-20 and 1-19.
Tenth-ranked Stanford, which is currently in fifth place in the MPSF, has three matches remaining. The Cardinal visits No. 4 Pacific on Tuesday, No. 10 UCLA on Friday and No. 7 UC Irvine on Saturday.
The Cardinal improved to 6-2 away from home this season with a dominating performance against the Tritons. The Cardinal held the Tritons to an .061 (41 k-34 e-114 ta) team hitting percentage --- the lowest by a Stanford opponent this season --- and out-blocked the hosts 16.5-8.5.
Senior Curt Toppel (Pacific Palisades, CA) led Stanford with a match-high 13 kills, four digs, four blocks and two service aces. Freshman Chris Ahlfeldt (Manhattan Beach, CA) added a career-high 11 blocks, while senior William Strickland (Malibu, CA) added 10 kills, a match-high nine digs and three bocks.
Sophomore Kevin Keyser had nine kills, three digs, three blocks and a .692 (9-0-13) hitting percentage to lead UC San Diego.
The Cardinal set the tone for the match early by jumping out to a 19-5 advantage in game one. The Tritons could get no closer than nine points (29-20) the rest of the way, as they hit -.056 (12-14-36) in the opening game.
Game two was more of the same as Stanford streaked out to leads of 10-3 and 19-6. The Cardinal, which hit .389 (19-5-36) in the second game, wrapped up the game on a kill from Strickland.
Game three was a much tighter affair, with numerous ties down the stretch. UC San Diego held its last lead at 21-20 before a service error knotted the score up again. At 25-25, Stanford rolled off three straight points to take command, and closed out the match with block assists coming from Ahlfeldt and senior William Curtis (Whittier, CA) on an attack by Triton sophomore Adam Toren.