Cardinal Ready for Regular-Season Finale

April 12, 2011

STANFORD, Calif. -

Complete Release in PDF Format

This Week
The No. 4 Stanford men’s volleyball team concludes its regular-season schedule against Northern California rival Pacific on Saturday in a 7 p.m. match at Spanos Center in Stockton. Stanford already is locked into the No. 3 seed for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament and Pacific will not qualify, so neither has anything to gain from a postseason perspective. However, Stanford (18-8 overall, 14-7 MPSF) will attempt to maintain the momentum it gained during a sweep of UCLA last week, and Pacific (11-18, 5-16) is seeking to avoid the MPSF cellar for the first time since 2007. With a victory, Stanford can match its conference record from 2010 when it won the MPSF and NCAA championships.

Follow the Action
• Live stats are available through the Gametracker link on gostanford.com.

Recent Accomplishments
• With its victory over UCLA on Saturday, Stanford completed season sweeps of the Bruins and Pepperdine in the same year for the first time ever.
• Stanford swept the season series against Pepperdine for the first time since 1997.
• Stanford swept its regular-season series against UCLA for the first time since 2001, though the Cardinal lost to the Bruins in the postseason that year.
• Stanford went through the season without dropping both ends of a road trip for the first time since 2002.

The MPSF Tournament
Stanford has clinched the No. 3 seed and homecourt for the first round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament, which will be played on April 23. The top remaining seed after the first round will play host to the conference semifinals and final. The MPSF tournament champion receives an automatic berth into the four-team NCAA tournament, though a second MPSF team will likely receive an at-large.

• April 23: MPSF Quarterfinals at home sites
Match 1: No. 8 seed UCLA at No. 1 USC
Match 2: No. 5 seed at No. 4 UC Irvine
Match 3: No. 6 seed at No. 3 Stanford
Match 4: No. 7 seed at No. 2 BYU

• April 28: Semifinals at highest remaining seed
Match 5: Winners of matches 1 and 2
Match 6: Winners of matches 3 and 4

• April 30: Championship at highest remaining seed
Match 7: Semifinal winners of matches 5 and 6

Stanford’s first-round opponent will be Hawai’i, UC Santa Barbara, or Long Beach State. The Cardinal is a combined 2-4 against those teams this season: 1-1 vs. Hawai’i, 1-1 vs. UCSB, and 0-2 vs. Long Beach. At home, Stanford beat UCSB, lost to Long Beach State, and did not play Hawai’i.

Saturday’s Opponent: Pacific
At 11-18 overall and 5-16 in the MPSF, the improving Tigers are concluding their best season since 2007 when they went 14-17 and 8-14. Pacific is ranked No. 14 in the AVCA coaches’ poll and is coming off a five-set victory at No. 6 UC Santa Barbara last Friday. Redshirt sophomore Taylor Hughes was shifted to outside hitter and had 25 kills while hitting .396. With the hitting of Hughes and Florian Gornik, a junior from Austria, the Tigers have one of their stronger attacks in years.

The Pacific Series
Stanford has won the past six matches in the series against the only other Division I or II men’s volleyball program in Northern California. On Feb. 2, at Maples Pavilion the Cardinal outlasted the Tigers, 25-20, 25-12, 22-25, 25-22. Brad Lawson had a then-season-high 23 kills for Stanford.

Records in Certain Situations
• Record in three-set matches: 5-4
• Record in four-set matches: 8-2
• Record in five-set matches: 5-2
• Record at home: 10-4
• Record on the road: 8-4
• Record when winning the first set: 15-1
• Record when losing the first set: 3-7
• Record when winning the first two sets: 9-0
• Record when losing the first two sets: 1-4
• Record when splitting the first two sets: 7-5
• Record in three-set matches on the road: 3-3
• Record in four-set matches on the road: 4-1
• Record in five-set matches on the road: 1-0

Stanford in National Rankings
Team (MPSF ranking in parentheses)
AVCA Top 15: No. 4
Volleyball Magazine: No. 3
Assists per set: 4th, 12.65 (3rd)
Digs per set: 3rd, 9.25 (2nd)
Hitting Percentage: 10th, .312 (6th)
Kills per set: 7th, 13.27 (5th)
Win-Loss percentage: 7th .692

Stanford in National Rankings
Individual (MPSF ranking in parentheses)
Assists per set: Evan Barry, 4th, 11.38 (3rd)
Blocks per set: Gus Ellis, 29th, 0.96
Digs per set: Erik Shoji, 4th, 2.55 (3rd)
Hitting percentage: Brad Lawson, 2nd, .315
Spencer McLachlin, 26th, .306
Kills per set: Brad Lawson, 8th, 4.22 (3rd)
Spencer McLachlin, 19th, 3.73 (9th)