PROVO, Utah – For the first time this season, the No. 3 seed Stanford men’s volleyball team (22-8) was swept, falling at No. 1 seed BYU (25-23, 25-22, 25-22), Saturday, in the MPSF Tournament finals in front of a season-best attendance of 4,367 at the Smith Fieldhouse in Provo, Utah. The loss snapped the Cardinal's 13-match winning streak, its longest since 1997.
As a team, Stanford outhit BYU (21-8) .284 to .266, marking the fifth time this season the Cardinal fell in a match in which it posted a higher hitting percentage than its opponent. Stanford totaled 17 attack errors and 17 service errors in the match while BYU had 10 and eight, respectively.
Senior outside hitter Brian Cook continued to shine for Stanford, hitting .483 with 17 kills, five digs and two blocks. Senior opposite Eric Mochalski added nine kills and nine digs. Sophomore middle Conrad Kaminski finished with six kills on a .500 hitting percentage, four digs and a block.
Sophomore setter James Shaw registered 36 assists in the loss, while redshirt junior libero Grant Delgado notched a match-best 11 digs. Junior middle Spencer Haly had three kills and three blocks. Senior Steven Irvin totaled nine kills and six digs, but committed 10 attack errors.
Two-time MPSF Player of the Year Taylor Sander recorded 15 kills on a .324 hitting percentage and two aces for BYU. Devin Young added six kills, five digs and four blocks for the Cougars, which has won back-to-back MPSF Tournament championships.
After the match, Cook and Shaw were named to the MPSF all-tournament team along with Sander (MVP), Young and Robbie Sutton of BYU. Also earning all-tournament honors were Pepperdine’s Matt West and UC Santa Barbara’s Jake Staahl.
The Cardinal now awaits its NCAA Tournament fate. The six-team field will be announced on Sunday, April 27. The matches will be played at Gentile Arena in Chicago on the campus of Loyola University Chicago.