March 7, 2012
STANFORD, Calif. - With 22 days between Wednesday's loss and its next match, the Stanford men's volleyball team has a lot to consider in the coming weeks.
The No. 3 Cardinal limped into the end-of-quarter break in its schedule by being upset by No. 14 Hawai'i, 20-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-23, in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's volleyball action at Maples Pavilion.
After winning eight consecutive matches and pulling into first place with a No. 1 ranking, Stanford (14-5 overall, 11-4) has lost three of its past five - all at home -- to drop into fourth place.
Meanwhile, Hawai'i (7-12, 4-10) snapped its seven-match losing streak at Stanford's expense and won for the first time in four years at Stanford.
Brian Cook and Brad Lawson combined for 35 kills, but the Cardinal simply could not get a handle on a team that began the day in 11th place of 12 teams in MPSF play. Hawai'i, for example, led the entire third set. And, in the fourth, German freshman J.P. Marks crushed the Cardinal with eight of his career-high 18 kills.
Stanford finished with 15 blocks, tying its season high, but still Hawai'i hit .321 and Steven Hunt, the team's primary attacker, had 22 kills on 57 swings.
"We always call it the X-factor," Stanford coach John Kosty said. "We know the No. 1 guy, but who else steps up? Marks played a great match tonight. In the first set, he kind of snuck up on us. In the second, we knew he was having a good game and we did our best to try to slow him down."
Cook, a sophomore, had 18 kills and only four errors during a .412 hitting performance. He also had seven digs and five blocks. Lawson had 17 kills, five digs, and four blocks.
Now, the Cardinal will have an extended hiatus from competition, before returning to action March 30 at Pepperdine. But don't call it a break.
"We've got a lot of practice ahead of us," Kosty said. "We've got a lot of work to do and even though Pepperdine is March 30 away, there's a lot of time to get better. This is not a break. It's an opportunity to get better."
Kosty challenged his team.
"I'm hoping they think about how they prepare and how they do things to get better," Kosty said.
"We've got a real good team," he said.
But it's going to take more than that when the team resumes play with seven regular-season matches remaining.
-- David Kiefer, Stanford Athletics