Feb. 14, 2009
STANFORD, Calif. - Winning consistently in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation is an achievement the Stanford men's volleyball team has yet to master.
A night after beating No. 2 Pepperdine with its best performance of the season, No. 8 Stanford was unable to make it a weekend sweep of highly-ranked teams, falling to No. 5 USC 31-29, 30-28, 30-25, at Burnham Pavilion on Saturday night.
The Cardinal (8-6, 4-5) got double-figure kill totals from Evan Romero (11), Brad Lawson (10) and Spencer McLachlin (10), but had difficulty breaking through USC's block. The Trojans had 13 altogether and limited Stanford to a .233 hitting percentage, as the Cardinal suffered its first home loss after opening at 3-0.
Murphy Troy, the reigning AVCA National Player of the Week, had 21 kills and a .405 hitting percentage for USC (9-2, 6-1), which shares first in the MPSF with UC Irvine (7-1) and Pepperdine (6-1) in the loss column.
In a conference in which 11 of its 12 teams are ranked among the nation's 15, every match and every opponent presents its own dangers.
"Winning and losing for us is about us," Stanford coach John Kosty said. "The opponents are always going to be good, the blocks are always going to be strong, and every team is going to have a big hitter. We have to play consistent volleyball to win."
Despite the sweep - the second at the hands of the Trojans this season - Stanford wasn't that far off.
Stanford fought off four set points in the first set, with Lawson coming through on one after McLachlin's scrambling assist, to tie it at 29-29.
The second set featured 21 ties, and the third featured a USC rally from a 15-7 deficit.
"We couldn't get our rhythm back from last night," said Kosty of Friday's 30-18, 28-30, 30-25, 30-24 victory. "We tried a lot of things, but couldn't get it going."
Junior setter Kawika Shoji was a bright spot with 38 assists, nine digs, five kills and three blocks, but Stanford's big hitters Romero and Lawson were limited to a combined hitting percentage of .097.
"We didn't play as well as we did last night," Kosty said. "And you can't get away with that in the MPSF."
Stanford next plays at No. 4 Cal State Northridge on Friday and No. 12 UC Santa Barbara on Saturday.