Feb. 21, 2003
STANFORD, Calif. - Senior William Strickland (Malibu, CA) had a double-double of 17 kills and 10 digs to lead ninth-ranked Stanford to a 28-30, 32-30, 30-25, 30-23 upset victory over third-ranked UC Irvine on Friday night at Burnham Pavilion.
The Cardinal improved to 8-7 overall and 6-5 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, while the Anteaters dropped to 14-4 and 7-4.
Stanford took control of the match late in the second game after the Anteaters had won game one and had match point at 29-27 in game two. With Strickland at the service line, the Cardinal scored three unanswered points to take the lead at 30-29. After the Anteaters tied the game at 30-30, Stanford used a kill from senior William Curtis (Whittier, CA) and a service ace from sophomore Craig Buell (Solana Beach, CA) to win the game.
UC Irvine jumped out to an 8-4 lead in game three, but Stanford came right back to tie it up at 10-10. The Cardinal later pulled away with a 6-2 run that stretched a 21-20 lead into a commanding 27-22 advantage. The Anteaters closed within 28-25, but the Cardinal used a service error and attack error from UC Irvine to close out the game. The Cardinal hit an impressive .448 (17 k-4 e-29 ta) in game three compared to .270 (17-7-37) for the visitors.
The Cardinal led nearly wire-to-wire in the fourth game, and put the Anteaters away with a 5-1 run that stretched its advantage to 28-21. The Cardinal closed things out on its first match point with an Anteater service error.
The difference in the match was defense, as the Cardinal recorded 52 digs to 36 for UC Irvine. Stanford hit .397 (70-18-131) for the match, while UC Irvine hit .261 (67-26-157).
"We started to dig balls and handle the ball better in game two," Stanford head coach Don Shaw said after recording career win No. 501. "Our defense just caught fire, and everything we had worked on in practice started to click."
Curtis had 17 kills and six digs for Stanford, while Buell hit .824 with 14 kills. Senior Paul Bocage (Princeton, NJ) hit .529 with 12 kills, while redshirt sophomore setter Kevin Hansen (Newport Beach, CA) contributed 63 assists and 12 digs.
Jimmy Pelzel led UC Irvine with 24 kills and five blocks, while Kyle Weichert added 12 kills and three blocks.
The Anteaters opened the match with a flourish by scoring eight of the final 12 points in game one to record a 30-28 victory. After Stanford cut the deficit to 29-28, UC Irvine wrapped up the game on a Cardinal service error.