A night after storming back to win the deciding fifth set over No. 4 BYU, the Stanford men’s volleyball team beat the Cougars 3-1 on Saturday to finish off a weekend sweep at Burnham Pavilion.
With the two wins, the Cardinal jumped up to No. 2 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division I rankings right behind USC, and moved into a tie atop the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) with the Trojans.
Stanford (3-0, 2-0 MPSF) head coach John Kosty was pleased with the first conference sweep of BYU since the MPSF series began in 2001, but remains reserved just two games into a three-month conference season.
“It’s a good start, but we’re going to have to get a lot better if we want to compete in the MPSF. BYU is really talented and deserved their very high ranking, so it was a big win,” Kosty said. “But it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”
The Cardinal certainly did a good job finishing against BYU on Saturday. Junior setter Evan Barry had 48 assists and led a brilliant offensive game plan, while junior outside hitter Brad Lawson had 19 kills on the way to a season-high .412 team hitting average.
Most importantly, a good service game from Stanford neutralized BYU’s blocking prowess—a night after having no aces and 21 service errors, the Cardinal finished with seven aces and just 12 errors.
“That was by far the best serving game I’ve seen so far from us,” Kosty said. “Whoever wins the service battle usually wins the match.”
The first set saw Stanford jump out to an early lead with the support of a big crowd of 1,033. But BYU rallied back to take a 15-14 lead after a five-point run on the back of freshman standout Taylor Sander.
“Taylor is a great player,” Kosty said. “He is a strong, physical player who will certainly be a force to be reckoned with in the MPSF for years to come.”
But Stanford remained composed and didn’t blink down the stretch as BYU put the pressure on, winning the first set, 25-23.
During the second set, Stanford really took control. An early 3-1 lead quickly turned to 8-2, then 12-3, and finally 17-6, putting the game out of reach for BYU early on. The key was an outstanding side-out game—Stanford won 14 of 18 points on BYU serves, throttling any Cougar momentum.
“Having the momentum and then just being on fire was absolutely huge for us,” Barry said. “When we have the momentum, we are almost unstoppable and to come out with big start was really great.”
BYU finally got things going in the third set, taking a lead at 6-5 and building off junior outside hitter Robb Stowell’s hot hand. Stowell was the target of Cardinal fans’ wrath—several of them sported cutouts of his face to taunt him.
Although Stanford ended up losing the set 26-24 on an Alex DaPron ace, a four-point Cardinal run to tie the score at 24 gave Stanford momentum heading into the fourth set.
With Lawson serving, Stanford took the first four points, and although hitting a bit below its match average, didn’t allow BYU much closer, winning the set 25-22 and match 3-1.
Friday night was a bit of a different story, featuring 29 tie scores in a thrilling five-set match at Maples Pavilion. Blocking was the story of the night, as BYU’s big front line had 21 blocks and a large BYU cheering section kept the match tight.
With two freshmen on the floor and three new starters including setter Barry, the match was a test of the young Cardinal’s focus. And after trading the first four sets with the Cougars, there was cause for concern when the Cougars took a 14-12 lead in the final set. But Brad Lawson stepped up and pounded two consecutive Stanford kills as the Cardinal pulled even at 14-14.
In all, Stanford fought off three match points before prevailing on a block by senior Spencer McLachlin and freshman Eric Mochalski that sent the Cardinal and its crowd into a tizzy on the same floor where it won the NCAA championship eight months ago.
For Lawson, the match really showed what this Cardinal team is made of.
“The turning point was in the timeout after we switched sides in the fifth set. I told the guys, ‘this is where we show our character against a very good team, this is go time,’” he said. “We really showed heart tonight.”
Stanford hits the road for the first time all season as it heads to Hawaii, home to seven Cardinal players, to face No. 13 Hawaii for a two-match MPSF series beginning Friday.