Jan. 31, 2008
No. 7 Stanford Men's Volleyball couldn't find its rhythm in a rare Thursday night game at Burnham Pavilion, and fell to Pacific in three games (30-21, 30-26, 30-24). The loss drops the Cardinal to 3-4 in the MPSF, with the last out of conference game scheduled on Saturday against Ball State.
The Cardinal had trouble finding holes in the Tiger defense all night, and witnessed a strong frontline that had 20 blocks on the evening. Pacific had two players with three blocks and another three with four blocks to disrupt the Cardinal attack.
Stanford got another strong performance from sophomore Evan Romero, but didn't hit a strong percentage as a unit and committed 25 attack errors. Sophomore Kawika Shoji finished with 33 assists to lead the team. Junior Jarod Keller got the start at libero and recorded a team-high 10 digs. Shoji also chipped in with eight digs of his own.
In the first game Pacific took control when the score was 10-10 and finished the game with a 30-21 victory. The Tigers got a team effort in the first game with three players recording three or more kills.
The second and third games were closer, but the Cardinal couldn't finish off the Tigers in either frame. The team rebounded to hit .281 in the third game, but it wasn't enough, as Pacific hit .357, their highest percentage in any of the three games.
The Cardinal will look to rebound on Saturday, Feb. 2 in a 7:00 p.m match at Burnham Pavilion against the Ball State Cardinals.