Feb. 26, 2005
Stanford, Calif. - No. 9 Stanford gave the home crowd of 602 fans a show as they upset the No. 5 ranked Long Beach State 49ers 3-0 to jump to 7-9 (6-7 MPSF). Statistically Stanford hit .434 for the match while holding Long Beach to a .260 hitting percentage. "I thought we played really well. They [Long Beach] set one guy a number of times and he hit very well, but were able to make plays when we really needed them," explained head coach Don Shaw. Setter Kevin Hansen spread his 46 assists evenly between Ben Reddy (13 kills), Craig Buell (13 kills), and Chris Ahlfeldt (12 kills). The Cardinal is now on a three game winning streak heading into next weeks matches with Cal State Northridge and UC Santa Barbara.
In game one the Cardinal jumped out to an early 12-4 lead, causing two 49er timeouts. Stanford continued to roll, stretching the lead to double digits 18-8. After trading three points with the 49ers the Cardinal opened the gap by five more points and ran away with game one 30-15.
Long Beach grabbed the early lead 5-1 in the second game. The Cardinal regrouped after a timeout trimming the deficit to two points and prompting a timeout by the 49ers. Stanford then rallied to tie the score at 15-15 before Long Beach came back to gain a two-point advantage and remain on top for most of game two. Trailing 24-26 the Cardinal put together a string of three points to gain its first lead 27-26. Long Beach locked the match at 27-27 after a timeout, but the Cardinal scored three unanswered points to seal a 30-27 win for a 2-0 lead.
With the 49ers on the ropes the neither team could take command in game three. After six ties Stanford pulled away to gain a three-point lead 21-18. The 49ers inched back to cut the lead to one on five separate occasions, before claiming their first lead 27-26. The 49ers scored again bringing the score to 28-26 and forcing a timeout from the Cardinal bench. After regrouping, Stanford won three of the next four points capped by a service ace by Reddy to tie the score at 29-29. A Long Beach hitting error gave Stanford game point, before the match was sealed by a block by the senior duo of Buell and Hansen.