Feb. 24, 2006
Stanford, Calif. - Stanford dropped three straight games (30-22, 30-17, 30-26) to No. 13 USC tonight at Maples Pavilion. With the loss Stanford's record moves to 4-13 overall and 2-9 in conference play. The Trojans improve to 8-8 and 5-6 in conference.
USC jumped out to a 10-6 early lead in the first game by hitting .400 as a team during those early points. The Trojans finished game one with only one hitting error and a .429 hitting percentage. Stanford was led by senior outside hitter Nick Manov who had five kills and a .833 hitting percentage.
Stanford started strong in game two, and tied the game at 4-4 after senior setter Jeremy Jacobs had a solo block against USC's sophomore Juan Figueroa. The Trojans then continued to pull ahead behind a strong serving performance by senior Joao Grangeiro, who recorded two aces for the game. Stanford only managed to hit .107 compared with USC's .500 for the game. Again Manov led the way for the Cardinal with four kills and a hitting percentage of .800.
Game three was a tight battle between the two squads. Senior outside hitter William Clayton started the ball rolling for the Cardinal with a kill to open the game. Senior middle blocker Chris Ahlfeldt smashed a back row attack for a 6-5 Cardinal lead, while senior opposite Ben Reddy followed with a kill of his own to propel Stanford to a 13-11 lead. That was as far as the Trojans would let it go though, as they rallied back, tying the game at 17-17, and continuing to push to the 30-26 victory. Ahlfeldt and Clayton led the game with seven kills each, while Jacobs dished out 19 assists. The Trojans were led in game three by Figueroa and Andrew Vernon who each notched five kills.
The Trojans were big at the net for the match, recording 32 total team blocks to the Cardinal's two. USC also hit .430 for the night, while Stanford bounced back in game three to raise the team hitting percentage to .204 for the match.
Stanford hosts No. 3 Pepperdine tomorrow night at 7 p.m. in Burnham Pavilion. Join us as we bid farewell to our PA announcer, Chris Putman, who will be leaving us after six years of service to relocate to Portland, Ore. with his wife and son.