Feb. 16, 2013
LONG BEACH, Calif. - After a weekend split, Stanford's men's volleyball team seemed to be at a crossroads.
The No. 3 Cardinal lost to No. 4 Long Beach State, 25-20, 25-18, 25-11, in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matchup of Top-5 teams Saturday at the Walter Pyramid, a night after an impressive four-set triumph at No. 9 Cal State Northridge.
Brian Cook led Stanford (9-5 overall, 6-5 MPSF) with 10 kills, but the Cardinal attack was held to a season-low .152 hitting percentage. Stanford is 7-1 at home, but 2-4 on the road, with visits to No. 1 BYU and MPSF newcomer, No. 11 Cal Baptist, up next weekend.
"It's a long process," Stanford coach John Kosty said. "At the same time, we're at a stage where we're still learning to put a matching together."
Long Beach State (11-4, 9-3) had the superior serve and attack, putting Stanford on its heels by serving at a .932 clip, in contrast to the Cardinal's .796 serving and 10 errors.
"They took us out of system, and that's when we struggled," Kosty said. "When we pass well, we're good. When we don't, we get fairly one dimensional. We need to be more consistent."
How can Stanford become more consistent?:
"We'll go after it in practice this week," said Kosty, whose team in fifth in the 13-team MSPF, with 13 matches left. "We're going to keep looking to get better. We've got a lot of season left."