April 17, 2003
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
MPSF QUARTERFINAL PAIRINGS:
Saturday, April 19 (All Matches start at 7:00 p.m.)
#8 seed Long Beach State at #1 Pepperdine
#7 Cal State Northridge at #2 BYU
#6 Pacific at #3 Hawai'i
#5 UC Irvine at #4 Stanford
LET THE POSTSEASON BEGIN: For the fourth straight year, and the 11th time in the last 12 years, the Stanford men's volleyball team has qualified for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament ... But for the first time since 1997, the Cardinal will be home for the postseason ... The fourth-seeded Cardinal (14-8, 17-11) will take on fifth-seeded UC Irvine (19-10, 12-10) on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. at Burnham Pavilion ... The winner of that match will advance to the MPSF Semifinals on Thursday, April 24 at the site of the highest remaining seed.
TICKET INFORMATION: Tickets for Saturday night's match can only be purchased at the door ... Prices are $10 for adults and $6 for students (with a valid ID) ... For ticket information, call 1-800-STANFORD,
STANFORD VS. UC IRVINE: This will be the fourth meeting of the season between the Cardinal and the Anteaters ... Stanford has won the last two meetings, and leads the season series 2-1 ... Here's a look at the previous three matches:
Match #3 - UC Irvine d. Stanford 28-30, 30-27, 30-27, 30-24 (Jan. 10, 2003 @ E-Bar Invite): The Anteaters improved to 3-0 on the year with a four-game win in the opening round of the eight-team E-Bar Invite ... UC Irvine was the eventual tournament champion, while the Cardinal placed sixth ... Jimmy Pelzel had 20kills, six digs and a .529 (20 k-2 e-34 ta) hitting percentage to lead the winners ...Senior Curt Toppel (Pacific Palisades, CA) just missed a double-double with 18 kills and nine digs.
Match #15: Stanford d. UC Irvine 28-30, 32-30, 30-25, 30-23 (Feb. 21 @ Burnham Pavilion): Third-ranked UC Irvine won game one and led 29-27 in game two, but the ninth-ranked Cardinal streaked back to pull off the upset ... The Cardinal scored five of the final six points in game two, highlighted by a service ace from sophomore Craig Buell (Solana Beach, CA) that closed out the game, and never looked back ... The Cardinal, which was playing out with three-time All-American Curt Toppel (strained abdominal muscle), was led by 17 kills apiece from seniors William Curtis (Whittier, CA) and William Strickland (Malibu, CA) ... The Cardinal out-hit the Anteaters by an impressive .397 (70-18-131)-.261 (67-26-157) margin.
Match #28: Stanford d. UC Irvine 30-27, 30-27, 32-30 (April 12 @ Crawford Hall): The Cardinal wrapped up homecourt advantage for the opening round of the MPSF Tournament with an impressive three-game road sweep ... The win was the Cardinal's sixth straight away from home, and improved its MPSF road record to 9-2 ... Curt Toppel had 14 kills, four digs, four blocks and two service aces, while senior Paul Bocage (Princeton, NJ) had 13 kills and a .706 (13-1-17) hitting percentage.
THE RANKINGS: Following last week's road wins over Pacific, UCLA and UC Irvine, Stanford moved up six spots in the USA Today/AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top 15 to fourth ... The ranking is the Cardinal's highest of the season ... UC Irvine is ranked sixth in the country.
POSTSEASON HISTORY: After winning the NCAA Championship in 1997, Stanford has advanced to the MPSF Tournament in five of the last six seasons ... The Cardinal has lost in the quarterfinals in each of its last four appearances, which were all away from The Farm ... But in each of the last three years, the Cardinal has stretched the match (2000 - Pepperdine; 2001 - UCLA; 2002 - BYU) to five games before being eliminated.
ON A HOT STREAK: Stanford enters the MPSF Tournament as one of the hottest teams in the country ... Since starting the season 2-5, the Cardinal has won 15 of its last 21 matches ... More recently, Stanford has won seven of its last eight and five in a row with the only loss in that stretch coming to top-ranked Pepperdine ... Just two weeks ago, the Cardinal was 9-8 in the MPSF and battling for the eighth and final playoff spot ... The Cardinal also faced the daunting task of playing its final five matches away from home ... But Stanford finished the trip with a 5-0 mark, with wins at No. 8 Long Beach State (3-1), unranked UC San Diego (3-0), No. 7 Pacific (3-1), No. 11 (tie) UCLA (3-0) and No. 6 UC Irvine (3-0) ... Stanford recorded just two three-game sweeps in its first nine victories (UC Santa Cruz, USC), but has posted five in its last eight (Pacific, USC, UC San Diego, UCLA, UC Irvine).