April 13, 2004
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No. 10 Stanford (9-16/6-14) at Pacific (8-19, 4-16)
April 14th - Alex G. Spanos Center - Stockton, Calif. - 7:00 PM (PT)
No. 10 Stanford vs. Pacific
April 17th - Burnham Pavilion - Stanford, Calif. - 7:00 PM (PT)
THIS WEEK: The Cardinal wrap up the regular season this week with a chance to secure a berth in the eight-team Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship. The Cardinal, who enter the week tied for the eighth and final playoff spot with UC Irvine, will face the Pacific Tigers twice this week. Stanford will play at Pacific on Wednesday night, before returning to The Farm to host the Tigers on Saturday night in both teams regular season finale.
STANFORD IN THE POLLS: The Cardinal slide one spot in the latest USA Today/AVCA poll after posting a 1-1 record last week. Stanford, who fell to Pepperdine, but rallied to defeat USC comes in at No. 10 in this week's poll. The Cardinal have now been ranked in the top 10 the past five weeks and nine weeks overall this season.
CARDINAL PLAYOFF PICTURE: When Stanford takes the court versus Pacific this week, the Cardinal will have their MPSF Championship tournament hopes in their hands. The Cardinal enter the week tied with UC Irvine for the eighth and final MPSF playoff berth. The plan is simple for the Cardinal. Win and they are in. Stanford will need to beat the Tigers twice, once at Pacific on Wednesday and once at home on Saturday, to lock up a berth in the eight team conference tournament. Should the Cardinal and the Anteaters tie for eighth place, Stanford owns the tiebreaker against UC Irvine by virtue of sweeping the season series with UCI. The Anteaters finish up their season by hosting UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday and Cal State Northridge on Saturday.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE CARDINAL: The Cardinal boast a balanced attack with seven players with a 100 or more kills ... Junior outside hitter David Vogel (6-3) has tallied 264 kills on the year and owns a 3.03 kills per game average. Junior middle blocker Craig Buell (6-5) is second on the team with 227 overall kills and is hitting a solid .339. Redshirt junior Pat Bomhack (6-9) is third on the team with 197 kills followed by sophomore outside hitter Ben Reddy (6-4) who has registered 195 overall kills. Sophomore middle blocker Chris Ahlfeldt (6-6) and sophomore outside hitter William Clayton (6-4) rank fourth and fifth on the team in kills with 175 and 110, respectively. Redshirt junior setter Kevin Hansen (6-5) leads the Cardinal with 1,075 assists (11.94 apg) and 174 digs (1.93 dpg). Vogel and sophomore libero Jeremy Jacobs (6-4) rank second and third on the team in digs with 156 and 131, respectively. Sophomore outside hitter Nick Manov (6-6) (78 kills, 42 digs) has been a key player for the Cardinal off the bench, while freshmen Brian Lindberg (6-0), Eric Jones (6-7), and Josh Schwarzapel (6-5) compose Stanford's freshmen class, adding depth to the Cardinal.
SCOUTING THE PACIFIC TIGERS: The Tigers enter the week with an 8-19 overall record and a 4-16 mark in MPSF action ... Pacific is receiving three votes in the latest USA Today/AVCA poll ... The Tigers are coming off of a 3-0 win over USC and a 3-0 setback versus Pepperdine ... Pacific has picked up its play over the last month, posting a 4-4 record over its last eight matches ... The Tigers are a different team at home as opposed to the road, registering a 6-7 record at home and just a 2-9 mark away from the Alex G. Spanos Center ... The Tigers boast four players with 200+ kills on the year in Nils Dauburs (294 kills), Brian Zodrow (265 kills), Sean Rodgers (245 kills) and Mauricio Brizuela (244 kills) ... Freshman setter Mitch Hazelett has handled the majority of the setting duties for the Tigers, handing out 760 assists on the season ... Dauburs is one of the best servers in the country, recording 66 service aces on the year.
LAST TIME OUT: The Cardinal posted a 1-1 record last weekend, suffering a 3-0 loss to Pepperdine, but bouncing back to defeat USC, 3-2. The Waves dominated game one, winning 30-20, but the Cardinal fought back in games two and three before falling 30-28 and 30-27. Junior middle blocker Craig Buell paced the Cardinal with 13 kills, while junior outside hitter David Vogel added nine and sophomores Nick Manov and Chris Ahlfeldt chipped in eight and seven kills, respectively. Redshirt junior setter Kevin Hansen handed out 39 assists, while sophomore outside hitter William Clayton collected a team-high seven digs. Stanford regrouped to collect a five-game win over the Trojans. Game scores for the match were 21-30, 30-25, 31-33, 30-22, and 15-13. After dropping a heart breaker in game three, the Cardinal showed the mental toughness to regroup and take games four and five. Redshirt junior Pat Bomhack led four Cardinal players in double figure kills with 17. Sophomore Ben Reddy added 15 kills, while Buell chipped in 11 and Vogel added 10. Hansen handed out 56 assists and collected 11 digs. Vogel and sophomore libero Jeremy Jacobs registered six digs each. Led by Ahlfeldt, Bomhack, Buell and Vogel, the Cardinal controlled the nets, out-blocking the Trojans, 14-10.5.
THE SHAW FILE: One of the top coaches in collegiate women's volleyball history, Don Shaw began his second stint as the Stanford University men's volleyball head coach in June of 2001. Shaw begins his 24th season on The Farm in 2003 and fifth year as head coach of the Cardinal men, including two years of serving as co-coach with Fred Sturm in 1984 and 1985. In four seasons at the helm of the Cardinal men, he has compiled a 70-46 (.603) record. Shaw guided the Cardinal to a 17-12 record in 2003, their third straight top 10 final national ranking and a top five finish in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. In his two years as co-head coach in the 1980's, the Cardinal went 36-25 and finished ranked in the top five in the nation in 1985. In his 16-year tenure as Stanford women's volleyball head coach (1984-1999), Shaw guided the Cardinal to four NCAA Championships (1992, 1994, 1996, 1997) and 10 conference titles, including six Pac-10 Championships in a row from 1994-1999. Shaw compiled a career winning percentage of .863 (440-70), which still ranks as the best in NCAA history. He was named National Women's Coach of the Year in 1991 and 1997, and Regional/District Coach of the Year in 1992, 1994 and 1997. In all, he guided Stanford to the NCAA Championship match eight times in his 16 seasons. He also served as an assistant coach for the gold medal-winning United States Men's Team at the 1982 National Sports Festival as well as the assistant for the U.S. Women's Team at the 1991 Pan-Am Games in Havana, Cuba. Shaw, a charter member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association, was also a member of the NCAA District VIII Advisory Committee.