STANFORD, Calif. – A 7-1 scoring run late in the third set propelled the No. 6 Stanford men’s volleyball team to a 25-19, 25-17, 26-24 win over No. 10 Hawai’i, Friday, at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif. The Cardinal moves to 13-7 overall and 10-7 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, while the Rainbow Warriors fall to 11-9 overall and 9-8 in the conference.
“I don’t think we had the best offensive night,” said sophomore setter James Shaw. “They were serving tough and we weren’t passing well, but when you are blocking like we did tonight and serving in streaks you can come out with a win.
“I think the crowd carried us in the end. We had a home court advantage and Hawai’i maybe got inside their own heads. We made the tough plays in the crunch-time situations and it ended up working for us.”
Shaw finished with 30 assists, six blocks, five kills and three service aces. As a team, Stanford totaled 11.5 blocks and hit .279, while holding Hawai’i to a .118 clip.
Senior outside hitter Brian Cook led the team with 13 kills on a .345 attack percentage, while senior opposite Eric Mochalski posted a double-double with 10 kills and a match-high 10 digs. Sophomore middle Conrad Kaminski tallied four kills on five errorless swings and totaled six blocks.
Hawai’i was led by junior outside hitter Brook Sedore’s 14 kills. No other Rainbow Warrior tallied more than five kills.
“It’s tough playing a team on back-to-back nights,” added Shaw. “It’s weird on your mind because you know you have to be better than the night before and you know you have to expect a different team. But, at the same time, it is the same team so you have to reset and try and do some different things."
Stanford and Hawai’i will meet again on Saturday, March 15 at 7 p.m. in Maples Pavilion. Coach Kosty will host a pre-match chalk talk at 5:30 p.m. in Kissick Auditorium in the Arrillaga Family Sports Center. Admission is free to the public for both.