Feb. 8, 2008
Stanford, Calif. - No. 9 Stanford welcomed the return of freshman Spencer McLachlin and took care of No. 13 UC Santa Barbara 3-1 (30-25, 23-30, 30-21, 30-18) in front of nearly 600 fans at Maples Pavilion Friday night. Sophomore Evan Romero and senior Matt Ceran each recorded 15 kills in the team effort. The win pushed Stanford to 8-4 on the season and evened up their MPSF conference record at 4-4.
Junior Miki Groppi recorded 26 assists and sophomore Kawika Shoji led the team with 29 assists in the first game of the season where Groppi and Shoji each recorded 20 or more assists each. The Cardinal led throughout the first game to keep their distance from UCSB, which prevented the Gauchos comeback effort. A Jeff Menzel attack error from the Gauchos ended the first game and gave the Cardinal the early 1-0 lead.
UCSB came back to win the second game going away 30-23 to even up the match at one game apiece. The Gauchos hit .375 for the game, which was by far their highest percentage of any game. Stanford struggled to a .162 hitting percentage, but that was soon to change in the pivotal third game.
Stanford dominated the Gauchos in games three and four by hitting .481 in game three and .359 in game four. In game three they never trailed in their 30-21 victory, and in game four they used a 6-0 run to start the game, and turned it into a 30-18 victory. The Cardinal defense limited the Gauchos into a .094 hitting percentage in the fourth and final game.
Freshman Charley Henrikson came off the bench and recorded six kills in only 10 attack attempts on the evening. McLachlin also led the Cardinal with 12 digs on the evening in his return from injury.
Stanford will return to the court Saturday, Feb. 9 when they face No. 6 CS Northridge at Burnham Pavilion. The match will take place at 7:00 p.m. when the Cardinal try to push over .500 in MPSF play.