No. 11 Stanford men’s volleyball (3-1, MPSF 1-1) made a statement in its doubleheader in Provo this weekend, upsetting the No. 1 BYU Cougars (3-1, 1-1) in five sets on Friday before losing its first game of the season in another five-set thriller on Saturday.
The Cougars jumped out to an early lead in the first set on Friday, but Stanford rallied, tying the score at 14-14 before going on an 11-4 run to take the set 25-18. Strong service from senior setter James Shaw and senior outside hitter Gabriel Vega helped to cement the Cardinal’s victory, as each notched 2 aces in the set.
BYU came back in the second, winning 25-19. While Stanford kept the score tight, errors were costly, and the Cardinal finished the set with 9 kills and 9 errors for a .000 hitting percentage. The third set was close, but the top-ranked Cougars outhit Stanford .300 to .158 and took the set 25-23.
In the fourth set, the score was tied 19 times as Stanford and BYU battled down to the final points. The Cardinal were able to force a fifth set in the end on a kill from Vega that gave them the 25-23 victory.
Although BYU jumped out to an early lead in the fifth set, Stanford surged on the strong play of senior outside hitter Madison Hayden. Hayden notched three consecutive kills to give Stanford a 12-10 lead, and despite a Cougars side out, Stanford took the set 15-11. Hayden finished off the set and the match with his career-high 24th kill of the night.
Vega and Kaminski complemented Hayden’s impressive night with 13 and 12 kills, respectively. Shaw recorded a season-high 54 assists and 3 aces while managing 5 kills of his own.
Stanford came out swinging on Saturday, taking the first set 25-16. The Cardinal outhit the Cougars .478 to .167. The rest of the match followed Friday’s template, with BYU taking the next two sets and a strong showing from Stanford in the fourth to force a decisive fifth set.
This time, however, the Cougars were able to capitalize on errors from the Cardinal to win the hard-fought match 16-25, 25-23, 25-21, 22-25, 15-10. Stanford recorded as many errors as kills, resulting in a .000 hitting percentage. Cougar sophomore opposite Ben Patch led all players in the match with 25 kills, three of which came in the final set.
Over the course of the game, Stanford’s and BYU’s statistics closely mirrored one another. Each team registered 56 kills and BYU posted 55 assists to Stanford’s 54. Despite the loss, the Cardinal maintained a slight advantage in attack percentage, topping the Cougars .295 to .289. Hayden again paced the Cardinal, posting 13 kills and 7 digs.
James Shaw continued to direct the offense, this time registering a double-double with 46 assists and 16 digs. Junior middle blocker Kevin Rakestraw recorded a .688 attack with a career-high 11 kills and no errors.
Stanford will kick off its first home stand of the season next Friday, Jan. 22, against UC San Diego followed by a matchup with No. 4 UC Irvine on Saturday, Jan. 23. First serve of both matches are at 7 p.m. at Burnham Pavilion.
Contact Olivia Hummer at ohummer ‘at’ stanford.edu.