Jan. 24, 2009
MALIBU, Calif. - The No. 3 Stanford men's volleyball team was swept by No. 4 Pepperdine, 30-25, 30-26, 30-26, on Saturday night to extend its losing streak to 22 in the series and complete a two-match Mountain Pacific Sports Federation road trip without a victory.
Stanford, which was swept by No. 6 USC on Friday, got 15 kills apiece from Spencer McLachlin and Evan Romero, but was unable to stop the hitting of two-time All-America Paul Carroll, who had 19 kills with a .415 hitting percentage.
The loss drops Stanford (5-3, 1-2) to eighth after the first full weekend of MPSF play, with Pepperdine (5-0, 4-0) ascending to sole possession of first.
Kawika Shoji had 40 assists and 13 digs and his brother, Erik Shoji, had 15 digs for Stanford, which should drop from its highest ranking position since 2002.
Stanford was up 6-5 in the first game, but the Waves scored the next three points to take the lead for good. It was 15-13 when the Waves went on a 4-1 run. Stanford would rally, however, scoring four straight points and eventually cutting the lead to one point at 24-23 and 25-24. The Waves would score five of the next six points to end the game, with senior outside hitter Matt McKee getting two kills and a block.
The second set was then tied at 19, 20, 21 and 22, when the Waves scored three straight points on a Stanford service error and two attack errors.
The third set was close until the end. Stanford held a 22-21 lead, but Pepperdine went on a 7-2 run to take a 28-24. Tied 23-23, Carroll had three consecutive kills to put the Waves ahead to stay.
After eight road matches to begin the season, the Cardinal plays its home opener Friday (7 p.m.) against No. 7 Long Beach State at Maples Pavilion and then UC San Diego on Saturday (7 p.m.) at Burnham Pavilion.