PROVO, Utah – Despite a double-double from Gabriel Vega, No. 9 Stanford dropped a 25-19, 25-21, 25-18 decision at No. 3 BYU in the MPSF quarterfinals, Saturday, at Smith Fieldhouse.
The loss ends Stanford's season at 13-13. The Cardinal has appeared in the postseason nine times under 11th-year head coach John Kosty. BYU improved to 24-3 overall as it advances to the MPSF semifinals.
Vega, a redshirt senior from Kailua, Hawai'i, recorded a team-high 12 kills and a season-best 11 digs for his first double-double of the season in his final match in a Cardinal uniform.
Tough serving and hitting errors were the biggest difference in the match for the Cardinal. After the second set, Stanford was out hitting BYU .222 to .200 but was unable to overcome its own errors from the service line. BYU led wire-to-wire in the final set.
Overall, BYU hit .315 while holding Stanford to a .182 clip. The Cardinal committed 17 service errors with just one ace and had 17 attacking errors. The Cougars totaled seven aces and 13 service miscues, but limited its hitting errors to nine.
Redshirt junior Colin McCall finished with seven kills and five digs, while redshirt junior Clay Jones added four kills and two digs. Both McCall and Jones also appeared in their final match for the Cardinal.
Redshirt junior middle blocker Kevin Rakestraw was held to a .222 attack percentage, posting four kills on just nine swings. Freshman middle blocker Jacob Thoenen had three kills on six errorless swings.
Freshman Paul Bischoff, an MPSF All-Freshman Team member, dished out 25 assists and had three digs. Junior libero Evan Enriques collected just two digs for Stanford, which held a 27-24 edge in digs over BYU. Junior Kyle Dagostino came off the bench to serve and totaled three digs and the Cardinal's lone ace.
Sophomore Jordan Ewert, who had missed Stanford's previous 10 matches with an ankle injury, returned in the second and third sets to serve.