Feb. 5, 2011
CHICAGO - Outside were banks of snow up to eight feet high, and temperatures so cold they made your face sting.
Inside, the No. 4 Stanford men's volleyball team dropped the first set, but no others in an 18-25, 25-14, 25-22, 25-21 victory over Loyola-Chicago in nonconference action Saturday night.
But, make no mistake - sleet, snow, ice - this is exactly what coach John Kosty was looking for. The Cardinal set out for a cross-country trip that would take them into bandbox gyms packed with frenzied opposing fans. He got that at Loyola, just as he did at Lewis a night earlier.
Both victories.
"We're amped right now," Kosty said afterward. "It was loud, and it was always there. It never stopped. It was great."
The Cardinal (8-2) got 18 kills and a .448 hitting percentage from junior outside hitter Brad Lawson and 11 kills from Spencer McLachlin.
Loyola (5-3) hit a blazing .667 in the opening set and finished with a strong .466 to Stanford's .398. But the Cardinal was able to sideout with regularity, doing so at a 75 percent rate and squashing the Ramblers' attempts to string together a run.
"They came out and played extremely well," Kosty said of the Ramblers. "And credit to our guys, we knew if we weathered the storm and played our type of volleyball, hopefully they would start making mistakes."
Stanford regained control by "dictating the action from the service line," Kosty said.
In addition, the Cardinal got a boost from freshman Steven Irvin, who came off the bench and had a collegiate career-high eight kills.
"It was great to see our guys persevere in these situations," Kosty said. "We have a lot of guys that have played in situations and gyms like this. Their experience really paid off."
They hope it will pay off when Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play resumes Friday against UC San Diego at Maples Pavilion. The defending champion Cardinal sits in fourth in the 12-team conference.
Stanford returns home from snowy Chicago to conclude a travel odyssey of 9,227 miles that began on Jan. 20 and took the team to Hawaii, Los Angeles, back to Stanford, and off to Chicago during a seven-match in seven-cities tour.
"It's been a great weekend and a great stretch for us," Kosty said. "We're not tired, we're just getting into the heart of our season.
"We're ready."