Jan. 19, 2007
In front of the largest crowd so far this season, the Cardinal fell short of capturing their first win in the MPSF conference. BYU came into the match ranked #2 in the country after sweeping UCLA last weekend.
In game one, the Cardinal hit .182 as a team with Evan Romero and Matt Ceran having 5 kills each. Freshman setter Kawika Shoji tallied 11 assists for the game. BYU went on a 6 point run at 22-24 until BYU's Rodnei Santos ended the streak with a service error. The Cougars finished the first game 30-23 on a kill by Russell Holmes.
Stanford started on top of game two as they took the lead early with the score 9-5. Game two continued to be a strong sideout game until BYU took a time out when they were ahead 25-22. After a service and attack error by the Cardinal, BYU kept their momentum and finished the second game with a score of 30-25.
Late in game three, Stanford gained momentum off a solo block from setter Kawika Shoji. Following the block, BYU made 3 consecutive hitting errors. The Cougars were forced to take a time out as Stanford led 20-18. At 26-26, an attack error came from Evan Romero but he was able to redeem himself with a kill on the next play. Down 28-29, the Cardinal took a timeout but were shutout with a kill by Yosleyder Cala on the next serve. Stanford dropped the final game 28-30.
The loss puts Stanford at 0-3 in MPSF conference and places BYU 3-0. Both teams will continue play tomorrow night in Burnham Pavilion at 7:00 PM.