April 2, 2004
NORTHRIDGE, Calif. - The No. 8 ranked Stanford University men's volleyball team fell to the No. 5 ranked Cal State Northridge Matadors, 3-1 Friday night at the Matadome. With the loss, the Cardinal fall to 8-14 overall and 5-12 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation games. The Matadors improve to 17-7 overall and 11-6 in MPSF play. Game scores for the match were 30-27, 25-30, 25-30, and 22-30.
The Cardinal started the night strong, taking the first game 30-27. Stanford and CSUN battled in a tight first game that featured 18 ties and 12 lead changes. Neither team could maintain more than a two-point lead until a kill by sophomore outside hitter William Clayton gave Stanford a 24-21 advantage. A kill by CSUN's Jeff Taylor capped a 6-2 run for the Matadors that put CSUN ahead 27-26. The Cardinal would respond with four unanswered points capped by an ace by Clayton.
The Matadors came out quickly in the second game, jumping out to a 9-5 lead after a kill by Brian Waite. The Cardinal battled back and finally tied the score at 16-16 on a kill by sophomore middle blocker Chris Ahlfeldt. The Matadors used some tough serving and built a five-point lead at 27-22 and never looked back after that.
Game three began just like the second with the Matadors racing out to an early 11-3 advantage. CSUN scored five of its first eight points of the third set on service aces, including three more by Nielsen. A kill by sophomore outside hitter Nick Manov would pull Stanford to within three points (26-23), but the Cardinal would get no closer.
The fourth and final game was tight early on at 6-6, but CSUN slowly built a five-point edge midway through the set (15-10) after a kill by Stan Douglas. Manov pounded another kill to pull Stanford to within two points at 22-20, but that would be as close as the Cardinal would get, as the Matadors used an 8-2 run to close out the match.
Junior outside hitter David Vogel led Stanford with 13 kills and nine digs, while Manov and Clayton each registered 10 kills for the Cardinal. Redshirt junior setter Kevin Hansen finished the night with 46 assists, six digs and four kills. Junior middle blocker Craig Buell chipped in seven kills, while sophomore libero Jeremy Jacobs collected eight digs.
The Matadors were led by Dan Rhodes' 22 kills, while Cary Hanson added 15 kills and seven digs.
The Cardinal look for a road split when they head to Santa Barbara to face the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos Saturday night at Robertson Gym at 7:00 pm.