March 30, 2006
Stanford, Calif.- The No. 3 ranked Warriors handed the Cardinal its second loss in as many days at Burnham Pavilion tonight. Hawai'i defeated Stanford 3-0, with game scores of 30-16, 30-24, 30-22. With the loss, Stanford's record moves to 4-20 overall and 2-16 in the MPSF. Hawai'i improves to 19-4 and 15-3 in the MPSF.
Head coach Don Shaw mixed up the line-up tonight for Stanford, starting a younger set of players, including freshmen Miki Groppi, Jarod Keller, and Brandon Williams, and sophomore Jesse Meredith. However, even the youthful energy was not able to overcome the No. 3 team in the nation, as the balanced attack of Hawai'i was too much for the Cardinal to handle.
Meredith led the Cardinal from the outside hitter position with 12 kills and a .450 hitting percentage. Groppi dished out 31 assists, while senior opposite Ben Reddy led the match with 14 kills.
Hawai'i was led by junior outside hitter Lauri Hakala with 11 kills, a .500 hitting percentage, and two service aces. For the match the Warriors hit .500, including a .760 mark in the first game.
The Cardinal will again be in action at Burnham Pavilion next weekend. On Friday night April 7th, Stanford will host No. 8 UCLA, and on Saturday night, April 8th, No. 1 UC Irvine will visit The Farm. Both matches are set to begin at 7 p.m.