Jan. 20, 2012
LOS ANGELES - The result stung - a sweep at the hands of UCLA on Friday night.
But John Kosty, coach of No. 4 Stanford, cautioned that this is just Match No. 2 of 22 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's volleyball season.
Brad Lawson had 13 kills, but Stanford fell to the No. 3 Bruins, 25-23, 25-22, 25-17, at the John Wooden Center in UCLA's conference opener.
Stanford (3-1 overall, 1-1 MPSF) rallied from a 22-16 deficit in the first set to close to within 23-22 after a pair of service aces by Steven Irvin. But the Bruins (6-1, 1-0) finally were able to close it out on a kill by Jeremy Casebeer.
In the second set, again the Cardinal rallied to within 23-22, but failed to pull even.
"We had some opportunities we didn't take advantage of," Kosty said. "And they executed very well."
Stanford was forced out of its rhythm, hitting a season-low .179, and no one besides Lawson had more than seven kills.
"They came out strong," Kosty said. "They served tough the whole match and that took away a little of our attack."
The match was the first of 10 consecutive on the road for Stanford, spanning five weekends. The Cardinal resumes play at No. 13 UC Santa Barbara (2-3, 0-1) on Saturday night.
"UCLA's good," Kosty said. "But we've got a good team too. This is the second match of the MPSF, and we've got a long way to go."
