March 31, 2007
Stanford fell short tonight against Cal State Northridge 30-27, 30-23, 28-30, 30-22 at the Matadome. The loss drops the Cardinal to 3-20 overall and 2-15 in conference play, while the Matadors improve to 15-12 overall and even their MPSF record at 9-9.
Matt Ceran knocked down a team-high 17 kills (.270) while Kawika Shoji added 15 (.290) and Brandon Williams chipped in 12 kills while hitting a match-high .667. Williams also had three aces while setter Miki Groppi dished out 46 assists. For the Matadors, Eric Vance knocked down 13 kills to go with a career-high six aces for Northridge, while Dan Rhodes added a match-high 21 kills.
Game one was close as the Cardinal trailed the Matadors 25-24 before a kill by Evan Romero tied the score for the final time at 25-25. Back-to-back kills from Vance and James Lischer gave Northridge the advantage at 27-25. Despite Stanford getting within one at 27-26 and 28-27 the Matadors held on 30-27.
Northridge came out firing in game two as the Matadors jumped out to an 18-11 lead and never looked back. The Cardinal got as close as 27-21, but would get no closer as Northridge went up two games with the 30-23 win.
With Stanford trailing 24-19 in game three, they fought back by scoring seven straight points to take a 26-24 lead. The Cardinal led the rest of the way. A Shoji kill gave the Cardinal game three 30-28.
Stanford struggled to find a rhythm in game four as Northridge rebounded to score 10 of the first 14 points. The lead eventually grew to 10 (20-10). Northridge took the game 30-22 to end the match.
Up next, Stanford will travel to UC Santa Barbara tomorrow to square off against the Gauchos at 7:00 pm.