Feb. 27, 2008
Stanford, Calif. - Stanford men's volleyball was riding high on Wednesday night, just four days after their monumental defeat of top-ranked BYU on their home court. A letdown could have been possible, but the team came together in the fifth game and avoided falling against a very skilled and tough Hawai'i squad. The Cardinal won in five games (26-30, 30-26, 30-25, 28-30, 16-14) behind 29 kills from sophomore Evan Romero and 21 more from senior Matt Ceran. Sophomore Kawika Shoji also contributed 70 assists in the victory.
The game was filled with long rallies and improbable digs, but each team kept matching each other point for point. In the first game, Hawai'i had control throughout and never relinquished the lead. Freshman Spencer McLachlin had seven kills, but it wasn't enough in the Cardinal's 30-26 loss in the frame. Romero had five kills in the frame, but had trouble slowing down James Clar of the Warriors, who finished with five kills. Hawai'i ended up hitting .419 for the frame and took the early 1-0 lead.
The second game is when things started to get turned around for Stanford, especially in the second game down 20-18. With Hawai'i serving, the Cardinal went on an improbably rally finished off by a McLachlin kill to cut the lead to 20-19. After another McLachlin kill after a long rally, the score was 20-20 and the crowd was on its feet at Burnham Pavilion. The Cardinal never looked back afterwards and ended up winning the game 30-26 and tying the match at one game apiece.
The third game was another game that was close throughout, but the Cardinal had enough at the end to finish it off and come away with the victory. Romero had a huge game with nine kills in the third frame, and Shoji already had 46 assists through just three games. Ceran had 11 kills and an attack percentage of .429.
The fourth game was a frame in which the Warriors refused to go down. Trailing throughout the whole game, Hawaii fought back and tied the game at 27 apiece, and ended up winning the game 30-28. Romero had five more kills and Ceran had a huge game with eight kills in the frame. Clar though had 27 kills through four frames and the two teams went to a deciding fifth game to determine a winner.
The overtime did not start out Stanford's way as they quickly fell behind 6-3 and looked to be running out of gas. Romero powered through three kills though and before anyone blinked the Cardinal had tied the game at eight apiece and had the crowd on their side. Lots of the Hawai'i contingent made noise as well, but the Cardinal supporters backed their team looking for a few more points. After two service errors, the Cardinal found themselves leading 14-12 and after two Warriors points, the Cardinal held to win the game 16-14, which sealed the match win.
Both libero's had huge games as Warrior libero Ric Cervantes had 23 digs and was all over the court Wednesday night. Inafuku had his second very strong game in a row and recorded 18 digs for the Cardinal.
The two teams will return to Burnham Pavilion tomorrow evening as they face off at 7:00 p.m. The game will be "Sorority Night" and will be filled with lots of extra festivities.