Jan. 17, 2004
STANFORD, Calif - The Stanford University men's volleyball team rallied from two games down to defeat the visiting UC Irvine Anteaters in five games in Burnham Pavilion Saturday night. With the win, Stanford improves to 4-2 overall and 2-0 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play. The Anteaters fall to 3-3 on the season and 1-1 in MPSF action.
UC Irvine captured games one and two by scores of 30-25, and 30-28. Stanford would take the next three games, 30-27, 30-28, and 17-15.
Both teams looked sloppy in the first game, as the Anteaters committed eight service errors, while the Cardinal served up five errors. However, the Anteaters were able to capitalize on their opportunities, registering a .400 hitting percentage for the game. Anteater's senior All-American Jimmy Pelzel paced UCI's attack with six kills in the game.
The second game was more of the same as the Anteaters, spotted the Cardinal seven points via service errors. UC Irvine made up for its serving mistakes by hitting .486 in the game. Pelzel collected eight more kills in game two, hitting at a .583 clip.
The Cardinal came out hot in the third game, jumping out to a 13-7 lead thanks to a kill from junior middle blocker Craig Buell. For the game, Buell was a perfect 4-for-4 on kill attempts, while junior outside hitter David Vogel added five kills in the game. Stanford grabbed a 24-22 lead off of a kill from Vogel. Stanford opened up a 26-23 advantage and never looked back thanks to a kill from Hansen.
The two teams battled back and forth in the fourth game, with the Cardinal taking a 10-9 lead after Nick Manov registered a kill. UC Irvine briefly tied things up at 11-11, but a few plays later, Vogel hammered home another kill to give the Cardinal a 14-13 advantage. The lead changed hands several times over the next couple of plays until UCI opened up a 26-23 lead late in the game. The Cardinal battled back to tie the score at 27-27 and took a slim 29-28 lead after a kill from sophomore middle blocker Chris Ahlfeldt. Moments later, Buell and sophomore William Clayton stuffed a UCI attempt to end the fourth game at 30-28 and send the match into the decisive fifth game.
UC Irvine jumped out to a 7-4 lead in the fifth game, getting three kills from Pelzel. The Anteaters pushed the lead to 10-6 thanks to a hitting error by Stanford. The Cardinal battled back, cutting the UCI lead to 8-10. The two teams traded points to bring the score to 11-9 in favor of the Anteaters. A Pelzel kill moments later put the Anteaters at match point at 14-12. A hitting error by UCI pulled the Cardinal within one point and on the next play, the Cardinal tied the score at 14-14 on a block by Hansen, Vogel and Buell. Both teams scored a point to push the score to 15-15. With the score knotted at 15, Ahlfledt and Vogel came up with a huge block on an attempt by Pelzel to give the Cardinal a one-point advantage. A UC Irvine hitting error would seal the win for the Cardinal at 17-15.
Stanford was led by Buell and Vogel who each recorded 17 kills. Buell was spectacular for the Cardinal, registering a .615 hitting percentage on the match, while also tallying two solo blocks and assisting on four more. Hansen once again orchestrated the Cardinal offense, racking up 52 assists to go along with a team-high 10 digs and three block assists.
The Anteaters were led by Pelzel, who registered a game-high 37 kills on 66 attempts for a .333 hitting percentage. The only other UC Irvine player to reach double-digit kills was Spencer Bemus with 11. Freshman setter Brett Reid recorded a game-high 72 assists.
Stanford packs its bags for a short two-game road trip, playing first at Long Beach State on January 23rd, and then at UC San Diego on the 24th. The Cardinal's next home game is on January 30th when they host the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos in Maples Pavilion.