April 8, 2003
STOCKTON, Calif. - The 10th-ranked Stanford men's volleyball team clinched a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoff berth with a 30-25, 30-22, 27-30, 30-22 win over fourth-ranked Pacific on Tuesday night at the Alex G. Spanos Center.
Stanford, which will be making its fourth straight MPSF Playoff appearance and 11th in the last 12 seasons, improved to 15-11 overall and 12-8 in the MPSF. The Tigers fell to 18-11 and 12-8.
The Cardinal has won five of its last six MPSF matches to move all the way from ninth place to a tie for fourth. The top eight teams in the 12-team MPSF qualify for the playoffs. If the season ended today, Stanford would host a first round playoff game against Pacific on Saturday, April 19 by virtue of sweeping the season series from the Tigers.
The Cardinal concludes the regular season at No. 11 UCLA (14-13, 9-11) on Friday and No. 6 UC Irvine (18-9, 11-9) on Saturday. Both matches will start at 7:00 p.m.
Senior All-American Curt Toppel (Pacific Palisades, CA) led Stanford with 19 kills, five blocks, three digs and a .400 hitting percentage (19 k-5 e-35 ta). Senior William Strickland (Malibu, CA) pitched in 11 kills and a match-high 14 digs, while senior Paul Bocage (Princeton, NJ), sophomore Craig Buell (Solana Beach, CA) and senior William Curtis (Whittier, CA) had 10 kills apiece.
Brian Zodrow had 17 kills for Pacific, while Aaron Wachtfogel chipped in 13.
The Cardinal finished with a team hitting percentage of .403 (67-17-24) --- its third highest total of the season. Pacific finished at .303 (59-23-119). Stanford out-blocked the Tigers 11.0-4.0, and had five service aces to the Tigers' none.
Pacific jumped out to 10-4 lead in game one, but the Cardinal closed the gap to 16-14. Stanford then scored seven in a row behind the serve of Curtis, and never looked back.
Stanford put away the hosts in game two with a late 6-0 run that created a commanding 27-18 advantage. The Cardinal out-hit the Tigers .400 (16-4-30)-.152 (13-8-33) in the second game.
Pacific took the lead for good in game three at 16-15. The Cardinal cut a four-point deficit to two at 29-27, but could get no closer. The Tigers hit .680 (18-1-25) en route to the game three victory.
The Cardinal broke open game four behind the play of Buell. The sophomore middle blocker had three kills in a 9-2 run that staked the visitors to a 24-17 advantage. Buell also closed the match out with a kill on the Cardinal's second match point.