April 20, 2005
Northridge, Calif. - Stanford ended its postseason run after a 1-3 (23-30, 30-28, 29-31, 19-30) loss to the Cal State Northridge Matadors. The Cardinal finishes the season 11-15 with seniors Craig Buell, Kevin Hansen, and David Vogel playing their final matches.
Statistically, the Cardinal was led by Vogel with 16 kills along with 13 digs. Kevin Hansen finished with 51 assists moving his career total to 5,036 (third all-time at Stanford) and making him only the third player in Stanford men's volleyball history to record over 5,000 career assists. Buell chipped in 12 kills, hitting .550 to go along with five blocks.
For the Matadors Nils Nielsen dropped 29 kills on 56 assists by Jeff Conover. Brian Waite added nine blocks.
The Matadors opened the match with a two-point advantage but were overturned early by consecutive David Vogel kills, locking the score at 6-6. Northridge managed bounce back to take a 14-9 lead before the Cardinal called its first timeout. Stanford came out of the break storming back to cut the lead to two points before the Northridge bench answered with a timeout followed by a 4-0 run, widening the margin to six. The Matadors sustained the advantage to take game one 30-23.
Game two began with the teams trading points up to 9-9 when Vogel aced the Matadors to give Stanford its first lead. The Matadors answered with a side out and Brian Waite ace to regain the lead. Northridge went up by as much as five, but Vogel's hot hand brought the Cardinal back to even the score 20-20, prompting two Matador timeouts. The score ran even through 28 points with two Matador attacks sailing long to give the Cardinal the 30-28 win.
With the match tied 1-1 Northridge took a five-point lead late in game three. After two Stanford timeouts the Cardinal won seven of the next nine points to lock the game 22-22. Northridge managed a 27-25 lead but a Will Clayton kill followed by a duo block by Hansen and Buell knotted the score at 27-27. A pair of Northridge blocks sealed game three 31-29, giving the Matadors a 2-1 advantage.
Game four started deadlocked up to 9-9 when Northridge's Hanson rattled four points off of his serve, giving the Matadors a 13-9 advantage. After a Stanford timeout the Cardinal cut the lead to two points, but Northridge surged ahead to put away game four 30-19.