Feb. 17, 2011
LOS ANGELES - Spencer McLachlin had 11 kills and Brad Lawson 10, but they could not prevent No. 5 Stanford from being swept by No. 1 USC, 25-15, 25-14, 25-21 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's volleyball action Thursday.
Stanford (9-4, 6-4) hit .213 as a team to .417 for the Trojans (7-1, 7-1). Erik Shoji had 10 digs and Evan Barry had 30 assists for the Cardinal. McLachlin hit .364 and had nine digs.
Stanford remains in fourth in the MPSF, but drops two matches behind first-place USC, which had distinct margins in blocks (8.5 to 1.0), aces (7 to 0) and digs (38 to 30) in the match that lasted just 71 minutes.
In the first set, USC scored four unanswered points to open up an 11-8 lead and then pulled away while hitting .379 (Stanford hit just .135) with three blocks and two aces.
In the second set, USC hit .632 and added 3.5 blocks and three aces. The Trojans trailed 17-14 in the third set before scoring eight of the next nine points, including six in a row, to gain control of that set.
For Stanford, a bright spot was the play of redshirt junior Garrett Dobbs and freshman Denny Falls off the bench. Dobbs had six kills in nine swings (.556) and Falls had three kills -- the first kills of his collegiate career -- in four swings for a .750 hitting percentage.
The Cardinal next plays at Pepperdine on Saturday and will attempt to beat the Waves in Malibu for the first time since 1997 -- a streak of 13 losses.