April 5, 2005
Stanford, Calif. - Stanford shut the door to Burnham Pavilion with a decisive 3-1 win over Cal Berkeley. Stanford hit .307 while holding Berkeley to .155. William Clayton led the Cardinal with 21 kills, followed by Nick Manov with 20. The Cardinal will travel to University of the Pacific for an MPSF match on Friday, before closing out the regular season at Maples Pavilion against BYU.
Game one began with a slew of points by the Bears, opening up an early four-point advantage. After a Cardinal timeout, Stanford fought back to claim its first lead 14-13 prompting a timeout by the Cal bench. The Cardinal opened up the gap and sealed the game 30-23 led by Nick Manov's .667 hitting percentage on six kills.
The Cardinal maintained a small lead throughout game two until the bears roared back to lock the game 23-23. Stanford broke the tie with a flurry of kills by Clayton, Jesse Meredith and Eric Jones to build another lead, in route to a 30-27 win.
Game three featured a rejuvenated Berkeley squad, jumping out to an early 12-7 lead. After a Don Shaw timeout the Bears opened up the margin to nine points, maintaining the advantage throughout the majority of the game. Stanford mounted a small comeback, but Berkeley took game three 25-30.
Game four began dead-locked through nine points until the Bears surged ahead by three. The Cardinal regrouped to re-tie the score at 15-15. The Cardinal pushed ahead to a slight 21-19 advantage, but Cal knotted the game at 21-21. The Cardinal turned up the intensity, putting away the bears 30-22.