STANFORD, Calif. - Setter Evan Barry certainly knows how to push his Stanford teammates, just ask Erik Shoji.
With both players converging on a ball, Barry shoved his libero out of the way to clear a path. In fact, Barry flexed his muscles on other teammates during Stanford’s 26-24, 21-25, 25-22, 25-17 victory over UCLA.
But it paid off with as Stanford took control of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation slugfest at Maples Pavilion on Friday night, earning a big victory that moved the Cardinal into third place and kept it within (long) range of first-place USC, 2½ matches ahead.
Spencer McLachlin and Brad Lawson combined for 37 kills as Stanford (11-4 overall, 8-4 MPSF) hit .458 -- its second-highest percentage of the season – to outwhack the Bruins, who hit at a .403 clip.
McLachlin (19 kills, .459) and Lawson (18 kills, .389) supplied most of the Stanford firepower, as the Cardinal had only 10 attack errors in 107 swings. McLachlin also supplied a team-high nine digs, and freshman teammate Brian Cook had three service aces as well as a nine-kill, zero-error hitting performance.
“We worked on diversifying our offense a lot,” said Barry, who had a career-high 54 assists for a four-set match. “We’re trying to be more unpredictable. So, we’re trying to set different guys in different situations, kind of go away from what we did the first part of the season.”
Since poor performances in three-set losses to UC San Diego and USC, the need for a balanced attack may have taken on greater urgency.
“That’s something we’ve been working on for the entire season,” Stanford coach John Kosty said. “And we still have a half a season to go. The goal of our offense is just to be as balanced as possible and to have Evan Barry have a lot of options to set in any given situation.”
Besides the Big Two hitters of McLachlin and Lawson, Cook, Gus Ellis (six kills, .625) and Eric Mochalski (five kills, .500) had their moments too.
Still, at times it didn’t appear that would be enough. After Stanford rolled to an 11-5 lead in the third set after splitting the first two, UCLA freshman Gonzalo Quiroga supplied a kill and then served five consecutive points, including three aces. The streak mercifully ended on a service error, but UCLA had the momentum to overtake the Cardinal at 19-18.
A kill from the freshman Mochalski, whose father Dave played on UCLA’s 1982 national championship team, followed by a series of kills from McLachlin grabbed the lead back for the Cardinal, but it was defense that made the difference.
With a 23-21 lead, Stanford blocks turned away three UCLA attacks on a single rally, with Ellis and Cook nailing down the block that sent the Cardinal to match point. That set the tone for a fourth set that was highlighted by Cook’s block at 18-15 in the fourth -- the big one Stanford needed.
It came against Quiroga, resulting in his first attack error of the night, and sparked a 7-2 run that culminated on a Cook ace.
“The block in the fourth game really grabbed the momentum back for us to carry us on to win the match,” Kosty said. “It was one of the key plays of the night.
“We progressively served better throughout the match and more effectively. That gave us the opportunity to get a solid block on the outside attackers.”
The task remains formidable for Stanford, which plays host to No. 3 UC Santa Barbara (10-6, 8-5) on Saturday at Maples Pavilion beginning at 7 p.m. This is a change in location and time from the originally scheduled match.
But if push comes to shove, Stanford can bet that its setter will be doing the pushing, perhaps to victory.
-- David Kiefer, Stanford Athletics