March 4, 2003
STANFORD, Calif. - Senior William Strickland (Malibu, CA) hit .522 with 13 kills to lead the 10th-ranked Stanford men's volleyball team to an impressive 30-28, 30-22, 30-23 win over visiting Pacific in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action at Burnham Pavilion on Tuesday night. The Cardinal improved to 10-9 overall and 8-7 in the MPSF, while the Tigers slipped to 11-8 and 8-5.
Stanford led 28-24 in game one before the Tigers scored four of the next five points to trim the deficit to 29-28. The Cardinal then closed out the game at 30-28 on a kill by senior William Curtis (Whittier, CA).
The Tigers jumped out to a 9-5 lead in game two, which forced the Cardinal to call an early timeout. Stanford then scored the next six points, and 21 of the next 26, to take a commanding 26-14 lead. Stanford held the Tigers to a .000 (13 k-13 e-36 ta) hitting percentage in game two.
Stanford then locked up its second MPSF sweep of the season (the other was at USC) by taking a 15-9 lead in the third game on the strength of a 9-3 run. The Tigers cut the deficit to two at 25-23, but the Cardinal scored five unanswered points, the last three coming on Pacific hitting errors, to close out the match. Stanford hit .400 in game three (18-4-35), highlighted by six kills in eight attempts from Strickland.
Strickland, who had 13 kills and only one error in 23 attempts, also added three digs and three blocks. Senior Paul Bocage (Princeton, NJ) had 12 kills and a .529 hitting percentage (12-3-17) to go along with a match-high eight blocks, while Curtis added 11 kills and five digs. Redshirt sophomore setter Kevin Hansen (Newport Beach, CA) recorded 35 assists, 10 digs and five blocks. The Cardinal hit .282 (47-18-103) for the match, and out-blocked the Tigers 11.0-9.5.
Junior Sean Rodgers had 13 kills and a .500 hitting percentage (13-2-22) for the Tigers, while sophomore Nils Dauburs contributed 10 kills and six digs. Pacific hit .109 (45-33-110) for the match.
This was the Cardinal's second win in as many tries over the Tigers in 2003. Stanford defeated Pacific 30-32, 30-22, 30-22, 30-27 at the E-Bar Invite on Jan. 11 at UC Santa Barbara. The Cardinal and Tigers, who will meet again on April 8 in Stockton, also split a pair of exhibition matches at the Husky Dino Cup in Canada in October.
Both Stanford and Pacific will participate in the Cardinal Invitational on Friday and Saturday at Burnham Pavilion. On Friday, Pacific meets the University of Findlay (7-10 overall, 2-9 Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) at 5:00 p.m. and Stanford will take on fifth-ranked Lewis University (13-3, 6-0 MIVA) at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, Pacific plays Lewis at 5:00 p.m. and Stanford goes up against Findlay at 7:30 p.m.