Feb. 18, 2012
LA JOLLA, Calif. - The Stanford men's volleyball team reached the end of the road - finally - and with another victory that could vault the Cardinal all the way to No. 1.
Brian Cook and Brad Lawson had 17 kills each to lead No. 4 Stanford past UC San Diego, 25-17, 24-26, 25-14, 25-14, in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action Saturday and cap a trip stretching 40 days.
Despite traveling more than 7,600 miles over five consecutive weekends, Stanford closed with seven consecutive victories, including two at then-No. 1 BYU, at No. 2 UC Irvine, and at defending NCAA champion Ohio State. In all, the Cardinal went 8-2 on the trip.
"The team's really excited about how they've performed on the road and really excited about coming home," Stanford coach John Kosty said.
Stanford now takes a possible No. 1 ranking into its conference home weekend with matches against Pepperdine on Friday and USC on Saturday. Each will be played at Maples Pavilion and begins at 7 p.m.
No. 4 Stanford (11-2) could vault to No. 1 because of a mid-week loss by top-ranked UCLA combined with the Cardinal's sweep at UCI on Friday.
And, at 8-1 in the MPSF, Stanford is tied for first in the loss column with UCLA (9-1), despite playing its first nine conference matches on the road. Every other team in the MPSF has played at least three at home.
"It's a great position to be in," said Kosty, whose team next has 11 of its final 13 regular-season matches at home. "You always want to take wins on the road and protect your home court."
Steven Irvin had 15 kills for Stanford. Gus Ellis was in on seven of Stanford's 11 blocks while UCSD (3-11, 1-8) was held to a .139 hitting percentage.
Evan Barry, with 55 assists, had another strong performance, setting Stanford to a .455 hitting percentage a night after the Cardinal hit .463 against UCI. In both matches combined, Barry had 92 assists and set Stanford to a .459 hitting percentage.
"That's Evan Barry, and that's our passing game," Kosty said. "Each kill anyone puts away is off an Evan Barry pass. He's getting everybody involved, and at the right times."
On Saturday, he set Lawson to a .556 hitting percentage, Irvin to .435, and Cook to .393. Barry also had five digs and two blocks. Cook also had eight digs and four blocks.
As great as the weekend concluded, with its 38 victory in 41 matches all-time with the Tritons, the highlight was the 32-30 first-set victory at Irvine on Friday. Stanford overcame deficits of 22-16 and 24-21 by fending off eight set points.
"There was no point in that first game when we gave up," Kosty said. "It really showed that you can't get a big enough lead on us. We were persistent and when the opportunities came up, we made the plays at the right time and stole the game away."
Stanford grabbed the momentum the rest of the match, and didn't let up a day later.
Now, they get to take the momentum back home - finally.