March 5, 2004
IRVINE, Calif. - Behind a balanced attack, the No. 12 ranked Stanford University men's volleyball team upset No. 9 UC Irvine, 3-1 Friday night at Crawford Court. The Cardinal won by the scores of 32-30, 30-32, 30-27, and 30-27. With the win, the Cardinal improve to 7-11 on the season and 4-9 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play. The Anteaters fall to 7-12 overall and 3-9 in MPSF competition.
Led by a team-high 16 kills from junior middle blocker Craig Buell, five Cardinal players registered double-digit kills. Redshirt junior Patrick Bomhack tallied 15 kills, while outside hitters, junior David Vogel and sophomore William Clayton added 12 kills each. Sophomore middle blocker Chris Ahlfeldt rounded out the Stanford players in double digit kills by totaling 10 kills in the win. Redshirt junior setter Kevin Hansen recorded 53 assists. Stanford out-dug UCI 54-45 and had six less service errors.
In game one, the score remained close until the Cardinal opened up a 23-18 lead thanks to a kill from sophomore outside hitter William Clayton. UCI's Paul Spittle entered the game and served four straight points, including a service ace to tie the game at 24-24. The Cardinal went on a 3-1 run to grab a 28-25 lead, but the Anteaters returned the favor scoring the next three points to knot the score at 28-28. The teams traded points until Clayton put away two kills to give the Cardinal the game at 32-30. Game one included 15 ties and four different lead changes. Stanford hit a solid .400 in the first frame, while limiting UCI to a .244 percentage.
Stanford jumped out to a 10-3 lead in game two helped by five UCI hitting errors and two Anteater service errors. The Anteaters rallied to close within one at 19-18 on a David Smith kill, but the Cardinal out-scored UCI 5-2 to pull ahead 25-20. UC Irvine capitalized on a Stanford hitting and service error followed by a Jimmy Pelzel kill to knot the score at 29-29. After trading points, a hitting error by Stanford opened the door for UCI freshman Jayson Jablonsky to end the game with a kill, 32-30.
In game three, the Cardinal held a 15-11 advantage before UCI went on a 7-3 spurt to tie the game at 18-18. The teams were tied 22-22 when Stanford used kills from Clayton and Buell and a UCI service error to take a 25-22 lead. UCI could get no closer than two the rest of the way as the Cardinal won 30-27.
Stanford grabbed a six point lead late in game three at 22-16 before Pelzel pounded three kills to narrow the margin to 22-20. A Stanford ball handling error brought the score to 23-22, but a UCI service error gave Stanford back the two point cushion. The Cardinal closed out the game on a 6-3 run for the game and match.
Pelzel, UCI's All-American, led all players with 25 kills. He also had a team-high 10 digs and four block assists, while freshman middle blocker David Smith notched 14 kills.
The Cardinal will look for the road sweep when they head to UCLA to take on the Bruins in Pauley Pavilion on Saturday, March 6th.