Jan. 10, 2009
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Evan Romero had 18 kills for the No. 8 Stanford men's volleyball team, but was unable to prevent a 21-30, 30-20, 30-27, 30-20 loss to No. 5 Cal State Northridge in the final of the UCSB/Elephant Bar Restaurant Collegiate Invitational on Saturday night.
Stanford (2-1) got seven blocks from freshman Brad Lawson and six from freshman Gus Ellis, but first-team All-America Eric Vance still managed a match-high 20 kills for Cal State Northridge (3-0).
"They're a good team," Stanford coach John Kosty said. "They don't make mistakes and they put a lot of pressure on you with the serve."
Despite Stanford's 12 blocks, Northridge hit 32 percent as a team to Stanford's 21 percent. However, the Cardinal did get a strong hitting performance from Romero, who hit 32 percent.
"This is what we need Evan to do," Kosty said. "That's what we're looking for from our opposites, a lot of kills and a .300 hitting percentage."
Vance was named Most Valuable Player for the 45th annual tournament, with Stanford's Shoji brothers -- junior setter Kawika and freshman libero Erik -- making the eight-member all-tournament team.
Overall, the season-opening tournament was a success to Kosty, who started three freshmen in the final.
"I've got a good feeling," Kosty said. "We've got a good team coming out of this tournament. But what we're really doing is preparing for our first conference match, on Wednesday at UOP. That's what all this is good for."
Stanford opens Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play Wednesday at Pacific, with the first serve at 7 p.m.
A pair of Spencer McLachlin service aces kick-started Stanford to a first-set lead that it would not relinquish. The Cardinal also led in each of the next two sets, at 5-4 and 15-14, respectively, but was unable to maintain them.
"I'm happy with our performance," said Kosty, whose team was one of seven nationally-ranked squads in the eight-team field. "We know where we stand. Northridge has set the standard for the rest of the MPSF."
The following are the complete results from the tournament:
Friday, January 9 - 1 p.m.
UC Santa Barbara 3, Pacific 1 (29-31, 30-28, 31-29, 30-25)
Cal State Northridge 3, UCLA 1 (24-30, 30-26, 30-18, 30-21)
Stanford 3, BYU 0 (30-25, 30-24, 30-18)
Long Beach State 3, UC Irvine 0 (30-28, 30-28, 30-25)
Friday, January 9 - 7 p.m.
Cal State Northridge 3, UC Santa Barbara 1 (30-28, 30-23, 28-30, 30-21)
Stanford 3, Long Beach State 1 (28-30, 30-27, 30-20, 30-28)
UCLA 3, Pacific 0 (30-25, 32-30, 30-26)
UC Irvine 3, BYU 1 (30-28, 32-30, 29-31, 30-27)
Saturday, January 10 - 11 a.m.
7th/8th place match: BYU 3, Pacific 0 (30-28, 30-18, 30-26)
Saturday, January 10 - 1:30 p.m.
5th/6th place match: UC Irvine 3, UCLA 0 (32-30, 30-25, 30-25)
Saturday, January 10 - 4 p.m.
3rd/4th place match: UC Santa Barbara 3, Long Beach State 0 (30-25,30-19, 30-26)
Saturday, January 10 - 6:30 p.m.
Championship match: Cal State Northridge 3, Stanford 1 (21-30, 30-20,30-27, 30-20)
Tournament Most Valuable Player
Eric Vance, OH, 6-4, Sr., Cal State Northridge
All-Tournament Team
Dean Bittner, OPP, 6-7, Jr., Long Beach State
Carson Clark, OPP, 6-5, Fr., UC Irvine
Mike Gaudino, OH, 6-4, Jr., Cal State Northridge
Jeff Menzel, OH, 6-5, So., UC Santa Barbara
Erik Shoji, LIB, 6-0, Fr., Stanford
Kawika Shoji, S, 6-3, Jr., Stanford
Scott Slaughter, MB, 6-7, So., UC Santa Barbara
Eric Vance, OH, 6-4, Sr., Cal State Northridge