Jan. 29, 2005
Stanford, Calif. - The Cardinal suffered its second consecutive MPSF defeat to a hot USCB team 2-3 (30-23, 24-30, 30-28, 24-30, 16-18) in an exciting five game match. Deadlocked going into game five, the Gauchos' Evan Patak overcame the valiant effort by the Cardinal, giving the Gauchos their fifth win in six matches. "Our guys are playing really hard, but in order to be successful in the MPSF we have to eliminate mistakes, and find a way to shut down other teams' big hitters," explained head coach Don Shaw in response to Patak's game leading 48 kills. Stanford overcame numerous leads by the Gauchos, but were unable to turn the corner and solidify the win against the single-pronged UCSB attack.
In game one, with the Cardinal ahead 26-19, Ben Reddy entered the game after a three match hiatus due to injury. Stanford rolled on to snatch the game 30-23 behind William Clayton's seven kills.
After dropping game two, the third game featured a collection of unusually long rallies. A huge block by Craig Buell and Kevin Hansen gave the Cardinal its largest lead at 26-21, boosting the crowd's enthusiasm. The Gauchos tightened the match up, trailing the Cardinal 28-29 before a UCSB service error put Stanford ahead 2-1.
Stanford stumbled out of the gate in the fourth game, yielding an early seven point deficit to the Gauchos. The Cardinal closed within two at the halfway point of the game, but the Gauchos squeaked out the win forcing the decisive game five.
Kevin Hansen administered 60 assists, the majority to Craig Buell who slammed down 16 kills. The Cardinal's record dropped to 3-6 (2-4 MPSF).