April 15, 2006
Long Beach, Calif. - Stanford battled against the No. 5 team in the country, but fell short in a 3-0 loss to Long Beach State tonight in front of 1,076 fans at the Walter Pyramid. Long Beach State won the match with game scores of 30-22, 30-14, 30-28. With the loss, Stanford ends its season at 4-24 overall record, and a 2-20 mark in conference play. Long Beach State improves its record to 21-9 overall and 14-8 in conference play, and will continue next week in the MPSF tournament.
Stanford was once again led by senior Ben Reddy, who pounded 11 kills and four service aces in his final collegiate match. Fellow senior Nick Manov notched 4 kills and senior setter Jeremy Jacobs dished out 11 assists. Seniors Chris Ahlfeldt and William Clayton recorded two and one kills, respectively. Sophomore Jesse Meredith pounded seven kills, and Matt Ceran notched six kills and a .500 hitting percentage.
Long Beach State was led by Robert Tarr who recorded a match-high 15 kills and three service aces. As a team the 49ers hit .519 for the match.
Tonight's match was also the last for Stanford head coach Don Shaw, who ends a 26-year coaching career on The Farm. Associate head coach John Kosty will take the reigns of the Stanford men's volleyball program effective May 16, 2006.