This Saturday, No. 5 Stanford men’s volleyball (19-5, 17-5 MPSF) will host the most important game of the season up to this point when it takes on No. 6 UC Santa Barbara (19-9, 14-8) in the MPSF Quarterfinals.
The Cardinal come into the game with two out of their five losses on the season having occurred in the past two games, the most recent of which being against UCSB last Saturday.
“I think that [the loss] lit a fire underneath us, and we’re ready to move forward and show that we’re a team that should be reckoned with,” said sophomore libero Kyle Dagostino.
Last week, the team had a good shot at earning the No. 1 seed, but after their recent losses, they will be featured as the four-seed in the MPSF tournament.
UCSB on the other hand is currently on a five-game win streak, beating teams such as now-No. 7 Pepperdine and now-No. 8 Hawaii.
“They’re a strong serving team and they’re very tough defensively,” Dagostino said. “That means we just have to take care of business on our side. If we’re efficient, than we should be in control of the match.”
That being said, the Cardinal enter the conference tournament with a season’s worth of strong performances on both offense and defense under their belts.
Stanford is currently third in the nation for blocks per set, with senior middle Conrad Kaminski tallying 131 blocks, good for second-best in the NCAA. Kaminski also boasts offensive dominance and consistency, leading the nation in hitting percentage, while the Cardinal as a team come in at third overall. On the defensive end, Stanford will have to look out for Jacob Delson and Matt Marsh, who lead the Gauchos with over 3 kills per set.
Following a tough 2014-15 season, the Cardinal will look avenge their recent loss and beat UCSB, kicking off a deep run in the MPSF tournament on their way towards their first conference tournament title since 2o10.
The match against UCSB will be held in Maples Pavilion on Saturday, April 16 at 7 p.m. The match will be streamed live on Pac-12 Networks.
Contact Laura Sussman at [email protected].