March 10, 2007
Stanford's attack took control of the match for the Cardinal as they defeated the Tritons in three at Maples Pavilion tonight. With the win tonight, the Cardinal improve to 3-19, 2-14 in the MPSF as the Tritons drop to 5-15, 2-12 in conference play.
Freshmen Evan Romero and Kawika Shoji led the attack for the Cardinal with 12 and 15 kills respectively. Freshman Jason Spangler has a game-high 20 kills, while Gerald Houseman added 12 block assists.
Stanford had a solid start to game one as they took a 4-1 lead. However UCSD rallied back to tie the game at four-all. At 13-10, Stanford regained a three-point lead to force a UCSD timeout. UCSD was able to come back and tie the game at 17-all before taking their first lead of the game off of a solo block by freshman Will Ehrman. The Cardinal fought, but UCSD would not back down. At 20-23, UCSD took their biggest lead of the game, completing at 13-5 run, and forcing Stanford to take timeout. Garret Werner and Evan Romero came up with a key block in an attempt to break the Triton's momentum, but UCSD would answer right back with a kill of their own. A key kill by freshman Kawika Shoji brought the Cardinal back to within one point at 24-25. Sophomore Miki Groppi came up with a huge solo block to tie the game at 25-all. A timely kill by Evan Romero gave the Cardinal a game point, which was followed by another Shoji kill to give Stanford the win, 30-28.
In game two, Stanford rallied back from a two-point deficit, to tie the game at eight-all. A kill by Matt Ceran followed by three UCSD errors, and a solo block by Miki Groppi gave the Cardinal a 13-9 lead. Stanford extended their lead on the next play with a kill by Shoji and proceeded to push their lead to 21-16. Three consecutive kills by Shoji further extended the Cardinal's lead to 26-18, however a 5-1 Tritons run helped close to gap for UCSD. But Stanford would not be denied. A kill by Shoji gave the Cardinal multiple game points. Evan Romero closed out game two with a kill as the Cardinal came out on top 30-25. Stanford hit .211 to UCSD's .024 as was lead by Shoji's seven kills on the game.
Stanford took a 9-6 lead in game three before a 7-2 Triton run, with the help of Jason Spangler's back-to-back kills, put the Cardinal down 11-13. The attack by Brandon Williams and Matt Ceran helped bring the Cardinal back and tie the game at 14-all, however UCSD regained the lead 15-19. A 7-1 Stanford run gave them a two point lead and forced the Tritons to call timeout at 22-20. Out of the timeout, a kill by Jason Spangler brought the Tritons back to within one. However, Stanford, led by key kills by Shoji and Romero, once again persisted. A triple block by Shoji, Groppi, and Garret Werner ended the game, as the Cardinal took game three 30-25.
After a two and a half week hiatus, Stanford returns to action as they travel to play Cal State Northridge and UC Santa Barbara on March 30 and 31.
Stanford d. UCSD (30-28, 30-25, 30-25)