April 7, 2007
Stanford's attack took control of the beginning of the match for the Cardinal, but their defensive efforts were not enough to hold the Trojans down tonight in Burnham Pavilion. Stanford hit .381 to USC's .438 on the evening. The loss drops the Cardinal to 3-23, 2-18 in the MPSF as the Trojans improve to 12-13, 9-11 in conference play.
Freshmen Evan Romero and Kawika Shoji led the attack for the Cardinal with 22 and 17 kills respectively on .432 and .517 hitting. Juan Figueroa had a game-high 24 kills (.474), while Jimmy Killian added 63 set assists.
Stanford started out hot in game one, hitting a blistering .565 with five service aces. USC hit a solid .478 on the game. An ace by Evan Romero gave the Cardinal the lead at 3-2. A 4-1 scoring run by the Cardinal forced the Trojans to take timeout. But the break in action did not halt Stanford. 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.
Stanford started the game with a 3-0 lead, before a 5-2 run by USC tied the game at five-all. 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 my an ace by Miki Groppi, tied the game at 12-all. A Juan Figueroa kill gave USC a 2-point lead at 13-15. A double block by Groppi and Garrett Werner tied the game at 17-all. At 19-18 Stanford took its first lead of the game since 5-4. However, the success for the Cardinal did not last long as a kill by USC's Andrew Vernon tied the game. A USC hitting error gave Stanford a 21-19 lead. However the Trojans turned up the heat taking a 24-26 lead. Improved hitting by the Trojans combined with three consecutive hitting errors to end game two gave USC the advantage 30-27.
The Trojans and the Cardinal battled it out in game three. USC led at 7-10 but the Cardinal were able to bring the game to within one at 9-10. A sneak attack at the net by Jimmy Killian gave USC the two-point advantage at 9-11. The Cardinal rallied back to within one at 12-13 forcing a USC timeout, however CJ Schellenberg's kill out of the break extended USC's lead once again. Romero was able to tie the game at 15-all with a kill, however the Trojans quickly regained the lead on a Cardinal service error. 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 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.
Stanford led early in a critical game four. At 6-7, USC took its first lead of the game. Stanford regained the lead at 12-11 off of a kill by Brandon Williams. The Cardinal extended their lead to two off of a Romero kill, forcing USC to take a timeout. Current answered for USC out of the timeout to bring Trojans back within one, 18-17. A kill by Figeroa followed by Stanford hitting error tied the score at 20-all. Stanford regained a two-point lead at 23-21 forcing a USC timeout. 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 Cardinal back to within two 26-28, however a Cardinal blocking error gave USC triple match-point. The Trojans took game four 30-26.
Next, the Cardinal will close out their season with two matches against the Hawaii Warriors on the road next weekend.
USC d. Stanford (30-24, 27-30, 28-30, 26-30)