Stanford men’s volleyball faced UCLA Friday night, with an MPSF playoff berth on the line. It was win or go home for the Cardinal, and they failed to do what was required, losing 3-0 to the Bruins at Maples Pavilion. It’s the first time since 2007 that the Stanford will be out of postseason contention.
Set One was a game of few runs, with the Bruin tandem of JT Hatch and Mitch Stahl ensuring that UCLA responded with two points to every one of Stanford’s. Junior Gabriel Vega had a nice tool off the right-side block at 12-15, senior Daniel Tublin had a kill at 14-17 and junior Madison Hayden had a solo block at 15-17 to keep the Cardinal in it late on. Middle hitters Kevin Rakestraw and Conrad Kaminski had the next two Stanford kills, but by then it was 17-21. The set was finished in short order as UCLA won 25-18.
Set Two was more of the same from the Cardinal. The passing was much better but the hitters couldn’t finish, as Stanford hit .125 for the set. Jake Arnitz had a thundering kill down the line for UCLA at 8-12 to set the tone. At 10-13, Conrad Kaminski finished off a nice Stanford passing sequence with a quick-set kill to keep the Cardinal close. But UCLA had too much down the stretch, winning the second set 25-19.
Set Three was much more closely contested. Stanford was within striking distance behind the hitting prowess of Hayden, who had 7 of his 14 total kills in the final frame. At 7-10, Hayden put one through the UCLA triple-block to ignite the Cardinal bench, and the run that followed brought the Cardinal to within 13-14. The Bruins glided away to 24-18, before Hayden had a kill and a block to give some hope of a run to save the set. Mitch Stahl would finish the Cardinal’s playoff hopes with a kill to give the Bruins the final set, 25-20.
The Cardinal finished their regular season on Saturday night with a straight-set 25-17, 25-18, 25-14 loss to No. 9 UC Santa Barbara on Senior Night at Maples Pavilion.
“The seniors tonight did a really nice job,” said head coach John Kosty. “They came out and had an opportunity to play in front of our home crowd for the last time. I thought Matt Aiello came out and set the tone, getting two aces right off the bat.
“It was a really special Senior Night. Sean Kemper came in and set the offense. For his first year setting, I thought he did a great job tonight. He gave our hitters the swings we needed. Credit to Santa Barbara, they are a good, solid team.”
Stanford will host the NCAA National Championship at Maples on May 5, 7 and 9, but after a difficult 2015 season, will not be represented in the final six teams.
Contact Kevin Bishop at kbishop ‘at’ stanford.edu.