Just as the Stanford men’s volleyball team was starting to build some momentum, it all came crashing back to earth. The Cardinal (9-13, 6-10 MPSF) dropped two decisions to Cal State Northridge and Long Beach State this weekend, losing 3-1 Friday and 3-0 on Saturday.
Friday’s match between the No. 13 Cardinal and the No. 14 Matadors was as close as the rankings suggested. Set one was decided by two CSUN runs, one from 5-5 to 9-5 and another from 14-12 to 20-13, after which the Matadors cruised to a 25-18 set victory. Eleven of the 25 Matador points came from Cardinal errors.
But Stanford came back strong in set two, keying off eight CSUN errors to win 25-20. Junior opposite Gabriel Vega had four kills, while senior middle Spencer Haly and junior outside Madison Hayden had three kills apiece.
Set three was over early, as CSUN jumped out to a 6-1 lead from which Stanford never fully recovered. The Cardinal made a late run to bring it within 20-18 and 22-20, but the hosts could never gave up the advantage as CSUN won 25-21. Fifth-year senior Daniel Tublin was the offensive force in the set, getting five kills from the outside position.
The final set was closely contested early, as neither team held more than a two-point lead until CSUN went up 12-9 on a Travis Magorien ace. After alternating the next 10 points, the Matadors found themselves up 16-11 on a block by Jakub Ciesla and Josiah Byers.
Stanford would make the next run, though, closing to within 18-17 on two kills by Tublin and two hitting errors by Bradley Sakaida. Hayden had two straight kills to tie the set at 22. But the Card couldn’t quite finish the job, as Kyle Stevenson had three kills to give the Matadors a 25-22 win to seal the match.
The teams had nearly identical numbers at the end of the match. Stanford had 50 kills to CSUN’s 49, and both teams hit .283 overall.
The difference in the match was Stanford’s 20 service errors, as CSUN surrendered only 13 such free points. Hayden led the Cardinal with 17 kills on .382, continuing his fine run of form. Tublin also cracked .300 hitting, posting 12 kills on .318. Freshman Kyle Dagostino, deputizing for the injured James Shaw, dished 41 assists.
The disappointment from the previous night surely played a role in the first set of Saturday’s match against No. 10 Long Beach State. The 49ers jumped out to a 14-4 lead, with the Cardinal yielding five kills to 49ers junior Cody Martin. Stanford would chip its way back to within 20-17, getting kills from Hayden, Haly, Vega and junior middle Conrad Kaminski, as Dagostino diversified the offense to great effect. But the hosts gave up their hard-fought ground, as the 49ers’ final five points came on Stanford service and hitting errors.
Set two followed a similar script, with the Cardinal spotting Long Beach an early 15-9 lead. But this time, a fight was not forthcoming, as Stanford never got closer than four the rest of the way. Hayden had six kills, while Vega had three. But the Cardinal had a massive 13 errors in the set, including six of the first seven 49ers points. Giving a top-15 opponent over half their points for free is not a recipe for success, and Stanford paid for it in the second set.
By now, it should come as no surprise that Long Beach State took a 10-4 lead to start the third set. From there, Stanford junior Alex Stephanus took over, posting four kills in five points to force a 49ers timeout at 13-12.
LBSU would then push back out to 20-15 using kills by Martin and John La Rusch, but kills by Hayden, Stephanus and Haly brought Stanford back to within 23-21, forcing Long Beach State head coach Alan Knipe to call his final timeout. Whatever Knipe said had the desired effect: La Rusch had a kill and the 49ers got a block to finish the job 25-21.
Hayden led the line for the Cardinal again, posting 16 kills on .267 hitting to cap a fine individual weekend. Stephanus hit .333 on 15 swings (7 kills), but both Clay Jones and Tublin hit for negative percentages. Stanford’s passing was good: The team passed .925 on serve-receive and had 30 digs. What did the Cardinal in was a .186 hitting performance, which paled in comparison to LBSU’s .361.
The team is back home next weekend, hosting Cal Baptist on Thursday and USC on Saturday. With only six matches to go before the MPSF tournament, the Cardinal will need every win it can get to squeeze into the conference’s top eight.
Stanford sits in ninth at 6-10 after this weekend, with one game separating it from eighth-place UCLA at 7-9. With the Bruins coming to Maples on April 17, the Cardinal technically control their own destiny. But with a visit to AVCA No. 1 Hawaii looming, nothing is for certain. What is known is the Cardinal will need every win they can get, against bottom-feeders and top seeds alike.
Contact Kevin Bishop at kbishop ‘at’ stanford.edu.