No. 4 Stanford men’s volleyball (12-2, 10-2 MPSF) maintained its home-court dominance this weekend as it swept No. 10 UC Santa Barbara (11-6, 7-5) on Friday and defeated No. 3 UCLA (13-3, 9-3) in four sets on Sunday.
The Cardinal never ceded the lead throughout Friday’s match, only allowing the Gauchos to tie the score at 1-1 in the first set. Senior outside hitters Madison Hayden and Gabriel Vega paced the Cardinal with 14 and 12 kills, respectively, but it was the strength of the Cardinal defense that gave Stanford the three-set victory.
UCSB kept the score within reach in the first, but a 7-2 run allowed Stanford to take the set 25-19. The Cardinal gained momentum as the match progressed, kicking off the second set with a 5-0 start that would prove the difference in Stanford’s 25-20 set victory.
Stanford’s strong defense was on display again in the third set as it held the Gauchos to a -.083 hitting percentage and led Stanford to a 25-8 rout despite the Cardinal recording only 8 kills in the set.
“Through the match, we played with more and more confidence,” said head coach John Kosty. “Our passing and serving continually got better as the match went on, and I think our net play got better… We took them out of system, and we thrived in that situation.”
Sunday’s faceoff against UCLA was hard-fought, as expected. The match featured 36 total tie scores as the teams traded blows, but Stanford gained the upper hand defensively, as it out-blocked and out-dug the third-ranked Bruins on its way to a 25-21, 20-25, 25-22, 25-20 win.
UCLA gained an early advantage in the first set and led 14-11 before Stanford called its first timeout. The Cardinal then recovered, taking a 7-3 run to secure the lead, and maintained it for the remainder of the set.
Stanford faltered in the second, trailing for the majority of the set before falling 25-20 on consecutive kills from the Bruins. UCLA was able to limit the Cardinal’s attack, holding them to a .125 clip.
Although Stanford jumped out to an early lead in the third set, the Bruins rallied to tie the score at 22. The Cardinal refused to surrender, capping off the set with a kill apiece from seniors Conrad Kaminski and Alex Stephanus and a combo block by Kaminski and senior setter James Shaw.
The fourth set was neck-and-neck until the Cardinal grabbed the lead out of a 16-16 tie. From there, Stanford won the battle at the net, using its conference-leading attack to finish off the Bruins.
Despite their strong performance so far this season, the Cardinal remain focused on improving their play, especially as they head into this week’s road swing.
“We can’t be satisfied with today,” Shaw said. “We can’t be satisfied with Friday night, either. We’ve got to push to get better and pass better and serve better. We can always do those things better.”
Contact Olivia Hummer at ohummer ‘at’ stanford.edu.