Jan. 16, 2004
STANFORD, Calif. - The No. 11 ranked Stanford University men's volleyball upset No. 2 UCLA in four games in Burnham Pavilion on Friday night. Game scores for the match were 30-28, 30-25, 25-30, and 30-28. With the win, Stanford improves to 3-2 overall and 1-0 in MPSF action. The Bruins fall to 4-1 on the season and 0-1 in MPSF action.
The Cardinal came out fired up in its home opener taking a 11-6 lead early in the first game. The Bruins responded and rolled off five unanswered points to pull even at 11-11. However, the Cardinal rallied and took a slim 26-25 lead late in the game. A kill by junior Kevin Hansen gave the Cardinal a 29-28 which they would capitalize on to take game one 30-28. The Cardinal received strong play from junior outside hitter David Vogel, who registered six kills in the game, while sophomore outside hitter Ben Reddy added five kills.
Game two was more of the same, as the Cardinal jumped out to the early lead and held a 14-12 advantage at the midway point. A few plays later, Reddy came up with two huge kills to extend Stanford's lead to 25-20. A service ace from Hansen brought the Cardinal to game point at 29-23. After two points by the Bruins, Hansen set up sophomore middle blocker Chris Ahlfeldt for the game-winning kill.
"Hansen was everywhere for us tonight," said Stanford Head Coach Don Shaw. "He's a great player and he played like it tonight. But it really was a team effort tonight. Everyone shared the load. For us to be successful, we need to have that kind of balance,"
The Bruins bounced back in game three, taking an early 5-1 lead. The Bruins would push the lead to 15-11 before opening up the game with a 22-16 advantage, their biggest lead of the game. The Cardinal would rally but it wouldn't be enough as the Bruins rolled to a 30-25 win.
UCLA started game four much like the way it started game three, jumping out to a 10-6 lead. The Cardinal responded and was able to tie the score at 15-15. The two teams battled back and forth, with the lead changing three ties, before the Cardinal took a 26-25 lead on a service ace from junior middle blocker Craig Buell. Every time the Bruins pulled even, the Cardinal had an answer. Reddy hammered home a kill to give the Cardinal a two-point cushion at 29-27. Two plays later, Reddy ended the match with his fifth kill of the game.
"They're (UCLA) a really good team, and we knew that they would comeback on us," said Shaw. "We were determined to comeback in the fourth game, and the guys responded and played at a very high level."
Vogel paced the Cardinal with 16 kills, while Reddy and Ahlfeldt each chipped in 13 apiece. Hansen was spectacular for the Cardinal, handing out 49 assists to go along with seven kills and a team-leading nine digs.
The Bruins were paced by freshman Steve Klosterman, who registered a game-high 19 kills. Junior Allan Vince was the only other Bruin to reach double-digit kills, collecting 15 on the evening. Sophomore setter Dennis Gonzalez recorded a team-high 48 assists.
The Cardinal take the court tomorrow night as they host the UC Irvine Anteaters at 7:00 PM (PT) in Burnham Pavilion.