| LINESCORE | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F | |
| No. 4 BYU (13-5, 10-4) | 21 | 26 | 24 | 18 | 1 |
| Stanford (8-11, 5-8) | 25 | 24 | 26 | 25 | 3 |
| STAT COMPARISON | ||
|---|---|---|
| BYU | STAN | |
| Kills | 48 | 62 |
| Attack pct. | .181 | .236 |
| Assists | 46 | 60 |
| Aces | 2 | 8 |
| Digs | 58 | 54 |
| Blocks | 13.0 | 14.0 |
STANFORD, Calif. – For the first time since 2012, the Stanford men’s volleyball swept the regular season series against BYU, defeating the fourth-ranked Cougars 25-21, 24-26, 26-24, 25-18, Saturday, at Maples Pavilion. The win marks the third straight for the Cardinal, improving the team to 8-11 overall and to 5-8 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
The Cardinal repeated a starting line-up for just the fourth time this season. Stanford out hit BYU (13-5, 10-4) for the second straight night (.236 to .181) and now holds a three-match winning streak over the Cougars dating back to May 1, 2014 in the NCAA semifinals.
“I think we are starting to gel,” said head coach John Kosty after the match. “We have been working really hard on our overall game. Trying to rely on our teammates and having everybody just do their job, and the last two nights that’s exactly what we’ve done. We really played”
After decisively winning the opening set, Stanford never led in the second and BYU evened the match by edging the Cardinal 26-24. The Cougars took a 23-20 advantage in the critical third set, but a 6-1 Stanford run closed out the set. Down 24-23, Kosty subbed in junior Alex Stephanus for Madison Hayden in the front row. Stephanus immediately registered a solo block to tie the match. Conrad Kaminski and Gabriel Vega closed out the set with solo blocks of their own.
“We put in Alex Stephanus to help shore up our left side block knowing they were going after it in that rotation. He came up with a terrific block. That was the game- and the match-changer right there in that one play,” said Kosty.
The momentum from the third-set comeback carried over to the fourth set as Stanford hit .368 and overcame six tie scores and four lead changes to close the door on the Cougars.
“We really played like a team,” added Kosty. “We played some really exciting volleyball against a talented BYU team. They can compete, they can play. It was a fun two nights of volleyball.”
Redshirt sophomore Gabriel Vega led Stanford offensively for the second-straight match. He turned in a career high 21 kills on a .425 attack percentage to go with 10 digs and four blocks for his first career double-double.
“Gabriel is playing within himself and he is making really smart decisions on balls that he can’t hit and if he doesn’t have a good swing he is doing smart things with it,” explained Kosty. “He right now has really stepped up his game and is playing at a really high level.”
Hayden added 17 kills, five digs and three aces for the Cardinal. Senior middle blocker Spencer Haly finished with a season-high nine blocks, including two solo. Fifth-year senior Daniel Tublin tallied six kills, 11 digs, three blocks and two aces.
Junior setter James Shaw dished out a season-high 51 assists, while freshman libero Evan Enriques had a team-best 12 digs.
Matt Underwood paced BYU with 18 kills on .300 hitting. Freshman Brendan Sander added 11 kills and four blocks, while libero Jaylen Reyes had a match-high 18 digs.
Stanford wraps-up its seven-match homestand on Friday, March 13 against UC San Diego. The Cardinal and Tritons will meet at 5 p.m. PT in Maples Pavilion.