Feb. 12, 2010
STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford welcomed the return of Spencer McLachlin from injury and showed it with perhaps its most pleasing performance of the season.
Brad Lawson had 15 kills and Stanford had only nine attack errors during the No. 5 Cardinal's 30-24, 30-23, 30-24 victory over No. 3 UCLA in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's volleyball match at Maples Pavilion on Friday night.
The relative ease of the victory after Stanford's recent struggles, and doing so against a formidable opponent and during an important weekend, made the performance even more satisfying.
"One of the things that was an asset with Spencer was his ball-control," Stanford coach John Kosty said. "What he did really well was move his feet to pass. When we can do that, good things happen."
Dig, pass, set, and spike rarely seemed so orderly or efficient. The offense rolled like clockwork. The Cardinal (6-3, 5-3) hardly made mistakes and seemed to be poised for a perfectly-placed attack on nearly every possession.
During one back-and-forth sequence, Stanford setter Kawika Shoji set to McLachlin on the left and Romero on the right. Though both attacks were stymied, Shoji gathered for a third try and went to Lawson, who flew up the middle for a backrow slam that UCLA couldn't cover.
"It feels really good," said McLachlin of being back in the lineup. "Playing in practice this week, I was just trying to get the connection back.
"The thing I was happy about was our passing. UCLA was a great serving team, and we handled it pretty well. If we can pass like we did tonight, it's going to be really hard to stop our offense."
UCLA did not register a serving ace for the first time all season, and all-conference hitter Garrett Muagututia, the brother of Stanford freshman Myles Muagututia, was held to single-digit kills (eight) for the first time.
"Taking nothing away from our other players, but Brad and I are very confident with Spencer," sophomore libero Erik Shoji said. "I've played with him since I was 10. We've been friends for a while. I think Spencer being back just allowed us to get back in the flow again."
McLachlin had only six kills, but the third-year starting outside hitter provided an overall performance - through his defense, passing and hitting - that allowed the Cardinal offense to run smoothly.
"We attacked smart tonight," Kosty said. "We only had nine hitting errors and three were blocks. That's exactly what a coach wants to see from his offense."
Stanford endured back-to-back home losses Jan. 28-29 against UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Northridge, but regained some momentum during victories over Pacific and UC Santa Cruz, with everybody on the roster contributing in some way.
"When everybody feels they're participating and has opportunities to play, they're going to be more involved and team's just going to play better," Kosty said. "The level of intensity last week in practice was higher than it's been all season."
McLachlin kept himself involved when he wasn't playing, and built closer friendships with many of his teammates by cheering alongside, which was fine. But the forced layoff also motivated McLachlin even more.
"It keeps you hungry," McLachlin said. "If you're not in the game, it makes you want to play all the more."
Evan Romero provided 10 kills, libero Erik Shoji had 14 digs and setter Kawika Shoji had 38 assists. The Cardinal hit .359 as a team and took advantage of 17 UCLA serving errors, while also holding the Bruins (6-6, 5-4) to a .237 hitting percentage.
Stanford trailed by as many as two in the first set and three in the third. Kawika Shoji provided the go-ahead points in the third set with consecutive tips to give Stanford a 19-17 lead it would not relinquish.
Lawson scored the match winner on an emphatic kill into the floor off a UCLA overpass.
Stanford got the result it needed on the opening of an important weekend. The Cardinal plays No. 11 UC Irvine, the defending NCAA champion, on Saturday at Burnham Pavilion at 7 p.m. The Cardinal, which lost consecutive MPSF matches at home two weeks ago, is hoping for a home weekend sweep before playing nine of its final 13 conference matches on the road.
"UCI will be a whole different team," Kosty said. "UCLA runs a good medium tempo offense, but UCI is high-octane. Their record does not indicative of how good they are."