March 26, 2011
STANFORD, Calif. - Back to back five-set matches. Ten sets worth of pressure-packed moments. Nothing came easy.
For the Stanford men’s volleyball team, the grind resulted in a weekend split after the No. 2 Cardinal lost to No. 9 Long Beach State, 25-19, 22-25, 20-25, 25-19, 15-12, at Maples Pavilion on Saturday night.
Stanford got 21 kills apiece from Spencer McLachlin and Brad Lawson, but was unable to contain Antwain Aguillard, who had 24 kills and zero errors in 35 attacks for a .686 hitting percentage for the 49ers (12-10, 10-7).
McLachlin and Lawson combined to hit .364 and gave Stanford a chance to win even though Long Beach hit .658 without an attacking error over the final two sets, to Stanford’s .245.
“It was just a couple breakdowns in serve-receive that really killed us,” McLachlin said. “That’s the difference in this league. We can be right there even if a team’s hitting .400. But a mental breakdown late in the game is all it takes.”
Stanford (15-6 overall) remained in second place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, but its first conference loss since Feb. 17 made things tighter with teams jousting for favorable seeding position for the MPSF tournament. The Cardinal (12-5 in conference) fell to 3.5 matches behind first-place USC in the standings and are clinging to a half-match lead over third-place BYU, and no fewer than six teams trail Stanford by three or fewer in the loss column.
Because USC’s lead is so great with three weekends to go, the competition could be for the second and third seeds – spots in the opposite bracket from the Trojans, which could be favorable in seeking a possible NCAA berth by taking a clearer path to the MPSF final.
“It’s very important,” McLachlin said of each match hereafter. “It takes a lot of pressure off on us if we do get that two seed. But I’m trying really hard not to look ahead too far. I feel like that could be a very easy distraction for us, and I want to take it one game at a time.”
Stanford failed to stop Aguillard, but that isn’t new. On Friday against Pacific, he also had zero errors. Therefore, for the weekend, the 6-foot-6 senior middle blocker had 41 kills in 59 attacks – and zero errors – for a .695 hitting percentage.
“He was the difference,” Stanford coach John Kosty said. “And we knew he was going to be the difference. He’s just one of those players who’s big and physical. For the most part, we were able to keep their passes off the net far enough, but they still got him the ball enough to get them the win.”
Erik Shoji had 16 digs, and setter Evan Barry had 10 digs and 53 assists, including a one-handed reverse pass for point for the Cardinal.
Kosty changed the lineups as the match progressed, getting a boost from opposite Garrett Dobbs and middle Charley Henrikson after they entered to begin the second set. Brian Cook returned to his starting spot in the fifth set.
“We were trying to find the energy, find the group of guys who could be cohesive enough for us to get that win,” Kosty said.
Unfortunately for the Cardinal, the victory proved to be elusive.
“Emotionally, it was draining,” Kosty said. “Physically, I don’t think as much anymore, just for the fact that the matches aren’t as long (to 25 points this year, rather than 30). Brad and Spencer have taken a lot of swings over the past two nights. I can understand them being a little physically drained. Everybody else, it shouldn’t be that big a burden.”
Said McLachlin, “Coach said he saw our legs getting a little heavy. I don’t know. I felt I was jumping my highest in Game Five.
“Mentally it is draining, but you can’t let that affect you when you’re playing a team as good as Long Beach, or any team in the MPSF. But it does take its’ toll.”
Stanford fell behind 6-3 in the fifth set and closed to within one point six times without catching the 49ers – the latest when a Long Beach serving error made it 12-11. Now, the Cardinal must regroup in time to play No. 1-ranked USC at home on Friday at 7 p.m., followed with a Saturday home match against Pepperdine.
“It’s just another weekend in the MPSF,” Kosty said. “We’re preparing as we always do. We’re going to watch a lot of film, analyze us and them, and hopefully we can find those one or two points that we were missing tonight.”
-- David Kiefer, Stanford Athletics