Jan. 31, 2004
STANFORD, Calif. - The Stanford University men's volleyball team fell to the No. 6 Cal State Northridge Matadors, 3-0 Saturday night in Burnham Pavilion. Game scores for the match were 23-30, 26-30, and 20-30.
The first game was a sloppy one for both teams as CSUN hit just .270, while the Cardinal posted a -.040 attack percentage. The Matadors grabbed an 11-8 lead thanks to a Stanford hitting error and never looked back, cruising to the 30-23 win.
The Matadors again jumped out to the early lead, taking a 14-9 advantage on a kill from Nils Nielsen. The Cardinal battled back and got within 16-15 thanks to consecutive kills from juniors Patrick Bomhack and Craig Buell. The Cardinal would even the score at 23-23 on a kill from sophomore middle blocker Chris Ahlfeldt and a CSUN hitting error. But that is as close as the Cardinal would get, as the Matadors went on a 7-3 run to close out the game.
Cal State Northridge started the third game much like the way it started the first two, jumping out to an early lead. Dan Rhodes' kill gave the Matadors a 19-11 advantage. A few plays later, Rhodes hammered another kill to give the Matadors a 22-13. The Matadors went on an 8-7 run to close out the match.
Junior outside hitter David Vogel was the only Cardinal in double figure kills with 11, while Bomhack added nine and Ahlfeldt chipped in seven. Redshirt junior Kevin Hansen handed out 32 assists and collected a team-high 12 digs.
Rhodes paced the Matadors with a game-high 14 kills, while Nielsen added 13.
The Cardinal hit the road, playing first at USC on February 5th and then at Pepperdine on February 7th.