April 18, 2009
STANFORD, Calif. - As Stanford coach John Kosty headed home after Stanford's sweep of visiting UCLA on Saturday night, he heard that Hawai'i had lost the first set of its regular-season finale to USC.
"We're just planning on going to USC this week," Kosty said, resigned to his fate.
But Hawai'i's late comeback in a 30-32, 33-31, 38-36, 30-27 victory on the islands changed everything. Instead, Stanford finished alone in fourth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and clinches the home court for its first-round conference tournament match Saturday (7 p.m.) against No. 5 seed USC. A Trojan victory would have meant a Stanford trip to Los Angeles.
No. 4-ranked Stanford (21-10, 14-8) will now play host to an MPSF tournament match for the first time since 2003, and it also meant the achievement of a season goal.
The MPSF, with 11 of its 12 teams ranked among the Top 15, has only one automatic berth in the four-team NCAA tournament, which means any advantage in eight-team conference event can be pivotal.
As for its 30-23, 30-26, 30-28 victory over UCLA,Evan Romero closed the regular season with a 16-kill, .517 hitting performance to lead the Cardinal at Maples Pavilion.
The victory came one night after the Cardinal was swept at home by No. 1 UC Irvine, meaning Stanford hasn't lost back-to-back matches since Feb. 19-20 and closed out the season's homestretch with a 13-3 record.
"We have a very confident team right now," Stanford coach John Kosty said. "We know we can compete with anyone in the nation."
Spencer McLachlin had 14 kills to help Stanford hit .366 as a team, and outside hitter Brad Lawson (11 kills) played a strong all-around match.
Brandon Williams, one of four honored before the match on Senior Night, hit .636 on 11 attacks (eight kills) against UCLA (14-15, 10-12), and hit .476 in conference play. Defensively, Williams had four blocks and helped limit UCLA's big hitters, Sean O'Malley Jack Polales and Garrett Muagututis, to a combined 28 kills.
The 21 victories are the most for Stanford since its 1997 championship team won 27, and its 14 conference victories are the most for the program since 2003.