April 10, 2007
Stanford vs. No. 10 Hawaii - Friday, April 13 (7:00 pm)
Stanford vs. No. 10 Hawaii - Saturday, April 14 (7:00 pm)
COMING UP: Stanford Men's Volleyball (3-23, 2-18 MPSF) heads to Honolulu to play their last two matches of the season against No. 10 Hawaii (11-13, 9-11 MPSF). This meeting marks the first time the Cardinal play the Warriors this year. Last weekend the Cardinal won the first sets against both Pepperdine and USC, but fell to both in four. Saturday night will mark the final match for the Cardinal as they wrap up their 2007 season.
STANFORD DROPS FOUR GAME THRILLER TO PEPPERDINE: The Cardinal started the match out strong in game one. Despite trailing late in the game 26-25, Stanford was able to grind out a win 34-32. The second game was a sideout battle as Stanford took a timeout at 10-8 with Pepperdine leading. A kill by Matt Ceran late in the game tied the score at 21 as the Waves called a timeout. Pepperdine won the second game 30-27. Pepperdine jumped to a 6-3 lead early in game three. Two hitting errors by Stanford forced a Cardinal timeout as they were down 8-13. Stanford took their final timeout of the game at 9-16. The Cardinal were able to come back from being down by seven after a Waves hitting error and Stanford block. Pepperdine took a timeout at 26-25 and were able to hold on to their lead, finishing the game 30-26. A solo block by Ceran tied the fourth game at 11. Two back-to-back blocks by Stanford brought the score to 15-16 causing Pepperdine to take a timeout. The Waves went on a four-point run to make the score 27-23. Pepperdine finished the game 30-25 on a dump by setter Jonathan Winder.
CARDINAL FALL TO TROJANS: Stanford started out hot in game one, hitting a blistering .565 with five service aces. After a second USC timeout at 12-6, the Cardinal continued to bring the heat. Back-to-back aces by Kawika Shoji gave the Cardinal a 28-22 advantage. Evan Romero gave the Cardinal game point, and Matt Ceran sealed the win for the Cardinal 30-23. USC took their first lead of the game off of a kill by Hunter Current, 5-6. They were able to extend their lead to 11-8 before a Stanford run, capped off by an ace by Miki Groppi, tied the game at 12-all. A Juan Figueroa kill gave USC a two-point lead at 13-15. A USC hitting error gave Stanford a 21-19 lead. However the Trojans turned up the heat taking a 24-26 lead. USC went on to take game two 30-27. The Trojans and the Cardinal battled it out in game three. At 18-17, Stanford took the lead with a kill by Matt Ceran. But USC responded with some offense of their own. Hunter Current came up with a timely service ace at 19-21 to force a Stanford timeout. A triple block by CJ Schellenberg, Current, and Matt Pavlovich gave the Trojans a 24-25 advantage. Schellenberg came up big again for the Trojans with a kill that gave them triple-game point. Romero saved two with a block followed by a service ace. However Current ended the game 30-28 with a kill. In a critical game four, Stanford led 23-21. The Trojans tied the game at 23-all after an acrobatic dig by Figueroa led to USC point followed by a Schellenberg kill. A double block by Garrett Werner and Ceran tied the game at 25-all. However a USC three-point run, 25-28, put the Cardinal in a desperate situation. The run was halted by a Romero kill to bring the Cardinal back to within two 26-28, however a Cardinal blocking error gave USC triple-match point. The Trojans took game four 30-26.
STANFORD IN THE BOOKS: Kawika Shoji and Jarod Keller have both "dug" themselves back into MPSF rankings. Shoji holds the ninth spot with 1.97 digs per game, while Keller wraps up the top ten at the tenth spot (1.93). Evan Romero ranks tenth in kills averaging 3.77 kills per game for the Cardinal.
ABOUT THE WARRIORS: Hawaii has won eight straight matches with two victories at Long Beach State. Friday, the Warriors won the first two sets and had to eventually win 19-17 in the fifth, equaling the longest game in five in the MPSF this year. 15 blocks by Dio Dante tied an MPSF rally scoring record. Saturday. Hawaii dropped the opening set and won the next three. The Warriors totaled 45 team blocks over nine sets. Lauri Hakala had 49 kills in nine sets.
Defensively, Hawaii has three players represented in the top ten of the conference in the blocking category. Senior Dio Dante holds the top spot in the MPSF for blocks, averaging 2.07 per game. Freshman Matt Rawson ranks fourth in blocking (1.41), while senior Brian Beckwith comes in sixth (1.29). Dante also ranks eighth in hitting percentage. Senior Eric Kalima ranks third in the conference in digs (2.39 dpg) for the Warriors.