April 2, 2010
NORTHRIDGE, Calif. - The No. 1 Stanford men's volleyball team had its eight-match winning streak snapped by No. 5 Cal State Northridge, 30-26, 21-30, 31-29, 30-27, on Friday night.
The Cardinal got 24 kills from Brad Lawson and 18 from Evan Romero, but they were unable to prevent Stanford (15-5, 12-5) from dropping into a tie with Pepperdine for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation lead.
Cal State Northridge (17-7, 12-6) moved within one-half game of first with help from 16 blocks in the match and .472 hitting in the go-ahead third set.
"I give credit to Northridge," Stanford coach John Kosty said. "Their outsides played well. That was probably the deciding factor. We couldn't slow them down enough."
Stanford hit a season-low .240, but had strong serving, with nine aces - three from Romero.
"We played well," Kosty said. "It was a good battle, good solid volleyball. But, tonight, the better team won. And the better team tonight was Northridge."
Stanford had a chance to close out the third set, but Northridge held strong on set point and scored the final three points to take a 2-1 lead.
Erik Shoji had 16 digs for Stanford and brother Kawika had 53 assists.Stanford must rebound on Saturday night to maintain at least a share of first, when the Cardinal plays at No. 10 UC Santa Barbara (10-13, 7-10), which upset Stanford earlier this season.
"It's the same routine," Kosty said. "They're another good MPSF opponent. We understand how tough this league is. You have to rebound quickly in this league."