Stanford Closes in on Playoff Berth

March 31, 2010

STANFORD, Calif. -

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This Week
The No. 1 Stanford men’s volleyball team gets rematches against the two opponents that swept the Cardinal during an early-season homestand -- Cal State Northridge (16-7, 11-6) and UC Santa Barbara (10-13, 7-10). The losses, which took place Jan. 28-29, dropped the Cardinal to 3-3. Since then, Stanford has won 12 of 13 matches and is on an eight-match winning streak, its longest since 1997-98. Stanford leads the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation by one match in the standings and can clinch one of the eight MPSF Tournament berths with a victory.

Follow the Action
Links to live stats for both matches can be found on gostanford.com. The Gametracker live stats can be found in the Calendar of Events on the main page, or the men’s volleyball schedule page. There will be no webcasts for either match, but the UCSB student radio station will broadcast the Saturday match. It can be heard online at kcsb.org.

No. 1
For the first time this season, Stanford was the unanimous choice for No. 1, receiving all 16 votes in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association poll. The Cardinal has been ranked No. 1 for four weeks, or each week since March 8. Before that, Stanford hadn’t been No. 1 since 2001, and that was only for a week. Since the AVCA rankings were created in 1986, Stanford has been No. 1 during five previous seasons: 2001 (No. 5 final ranking), 1997 (No. 1), 1992 (No. 1), 1990 (No. 4), and 1989 (No. 2).

Last Week
Last weekend, Stanford played its first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matches in three weeks because of winter quarter finals and came away with three-set road sweeps of No. 14 UC San Diego (30-18, 30-12, 30-20) and No. 9 Long Beach State (30-28, 30-22, 30-21). Stanford hit a season-high .527 against UCSD and .420 against Long Beach, with only 19 attack errors in both. Brad Lawson had 30 kills with only five errors on the weekend, hitting .532, to earn MPSF co-Player of the Week honors.

The MPSF Race
Stanford opened up a one-game edge on second-place Pepperdine in the MPSF standings. That doesn’t sound like much, but in the ultra-competitive conference, that’s a huge gap. Eleven of the MPSF’s 12 teams are ranked among the AVCA Top 15 and five teams entered last week’s play within one match of first. That number was down to three entering the week, with five teams within two games of the lead. The eight-team MPSF Tournament is starting to take shape as well. Stanford needs to win only one of its remaining six matches to clinch a berth. BYU also needs only one victory to qualify, and Pepperdine and Cal State Northridge could clinch spots with two victories each this weekend.

National Leaders
Stanford leads the nation in two team categories: assists per game (15.65), and hitting percentage (.365). The Cardinal is also second in kills per game (16.36), and third in win-lost percentage (15-4, .789).

Friday’s Opponent: Cal State Northridge
A weekend sweep against Stanford and visiting Pacific would not only clinch an MPSF Tournament berth, but thrust the Matadors back into the conference race. Cal State Northridge has two of the top hitters in the country, from a hitting percentage standpoint. Kevin McKniff is No. 2 (.499) and seven-footer Jacek Ratajczak is No. 4 (.456). But as a whole, the team is hitting .290, 13th-best in the country. The Matadors are playing their first MPSF matches since March 10, and most recently split a pair at Ball State, the latter with McKniff and Ratajczak limited to a combined 13 kills and the Matadors getting blocked 15.5 times in a three-set loss Saturday.

The Cal State Northridge Series
Stanford’s most painful loss this season -- and its only one at Maples Pavilion -- came at the hands of the Matadors on Jan. 29 when Northridge rallied to a 25-30, 30-21, 30-25, 32-34, 15-13 victory. It remains Stanford’s only five-set match of the season. Northridge has won six of the past seven matches in the series, though Stanford leads the all-time series, 32-24.

Saturday’s Opponent: UC Santa Barbara
The Gauchos have lost five consecutive matches -- all in MPSF play -- and are just out of the conference playoff picture, by one spot. UCSB’s Jeff Menzel leads the nation in kills per game, with 5.33, and has nearly twice as many attacks as the next-highest Gaucho (1,129 to 673). Even in losses, Menzel still comes through with 20-kill performances, as he did against BYU on Saturday (23 kills). Also to consider, UCSB is 2-8 at home.

The UCSB Series
UC Santa Barbara stunned then No. 2 Stanford on Jan. 28 at Burnham Pavilion, with a 30-28, 31-29, 28-30, 31-29 victory. Jeff Menzel had 23 kills and Cullen Irons had 22 for the Gauchos. Stanford was without outside hitter Spencer McLachlin for the match because of an injury. With him, Stanford is 11-2. Stanford trails in the all-time series with UCSB, 42-26.

Record Setters and Contenders
• Kawika Shoji and Evan Romero are possibilities to break the Stanford career record for sets played, including both scoring eras. Kevin Hansen (2002-05) has the mark of 392, with Shoji at No. 5 with 371 and Romero No. 6 at 369.

• Kawika Shoji broke the school rally-scoring era career digs record on March 20. Shoji has 723, passing fellow setter Kevin Hansen’s 711. However, Shoji’s mark is likely to be short-lived. His sophomore brother Erik Shoji, a libero, is at No. 3 with 670.

• Kawika Shoji broke the Stanford record for career service aces March 6. He has 93 in the rally-scoring era to break the mark of 91 held by U.S. national team setter Kevin Hansen.

• Senior middle blocker Garrett Werner broke the Stanford record for career blocks on Feb. 20 at USC. Werner now has 316 total blocks, bettering the 289 of Chris Ahfeldt (2003-06).