STANFORD, Calif. – Behind senior Eric Mochalski, the No. 7 Stanford men’s volleyball team swept No. 13 Cal State Northridge (25-21, 25-18, 25-19), Saturday, at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif. The Cardinal moves to 5-4 overall and 2-4 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, while the Matadors fall to 3-4 on the year and 3-3 in the conference.
Mochalski, making his first start of the season at opposite, led the Cardinal with 11 kills on 16 swings with no errors to hit .688. He also put down three of Stanford’s eight service aces on the night.
“I think everyone played really well tonight,” said Mochalski. “We passed great. Grant [Delgado] was huge for us tonight, directing the back row. [Steven] Irvin and [Brian] Cook are both great passers and carry the load offensively for us. When we are in system, James [Shaw] puts up a great ball for us.
“I was lucky tonight that they weren’t paying too much attention to me and I was getting a lot of one-on-one match-ups. Any opposite in the league can put away balls in one-on-one situations. It was really a team effort for us tonight.”
Senior Steven Irvin added 10 kills and 11 digs for the Cardinal, while senior Brian Cook finished with nine kills on a .308 attack percentage. Setter James Shaw tallied 31 assists in the win while directing the offense, which hit .344. Shaw added six kills, five digs, two blocks and two aces in the win.
Stanford, which was coming off a loss on Friday to No. 6 Long Beach State, held the Matadors to a .209 attack percentage and out blocked CSUN 6.0 to 2.0. The Cardinal also sided out at a rate of 69 percent for the match.
“We were definitely disappointed after last night’s loss [to Long Beach State],” added Mochalski. “We did a good job as a team of refocusing and getting our minds right for tonight’s match.”
Senior middle Denny Falls was also productive when the Cardinal went to him offensively. The Orland Park, Ill., native notched four kills on five swings with no errors, and collected three blocks. Sophomore middle Conrad Kaminski added four kills and two aces. Redshirt junior libero Grant Delgado finished with nine digs and an assist.
Freshman Damani Lenore led Cal State Northridge with 11 kills and five digs. Freshman libero Bradley Sakaida finished with a match-high 13 digs.
Up next, Stanford plays host to UC San Diego on Friday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. PT and UC Irvine on Saturday, Feb. 8 at 12:30 p.m. PT. The Cardinal and Anteaters will meet live on the Pac-12 Networks.