Jan. 24, 2008
No. 6 Stanford Men's Volleyball played the Matadors tough, but were unable to finish off games before falling to the southern California rival in three games (30-25, 31-29, 30-24). Redshirt junior Jesse Meredith recorded nine kills and sophomore Evan Romero chipped in 14 of his own. The Matadors were led by Eric Vance, who had 15 kills in the match.
In the first game, Stanford played CS Northridge tough, tying the game at 16 midway through the opening frame. The Matadors went on to score seven of the next eight points in the game and opened a lead that the Cardinal couldn't overcome before falling 30-25.
The second game was the most impressive for the Cardinal, playing the Matadors close the entire game, before falling 31-29. Romero had a particularly impressive performance in the second game by recording six kills. Stanford struggled to attack in the game though, hitting only .114 and recording nine attack errors.
The Matadors won the third and final game 30-24, in a frame where the Cardinal struggled to get things going. Stanford hit just .094 and fell behind early in the game.
Romero and senior Matt Ceran recorded 10 and nine digs, respectively, to lead the Cardinal in defeat.
The Cardinal returns to the court tomorrow, Jan. 25, when they travel to Santa Barbara to take on the UCSB Gauchos. Stanford has already played in Santa Barbara this season in the UCSB/Elephant Bar Classic, but weren't paired up with the Gauchos in a match in any of the three rounds.