Following a grueling weekend in southern California, the Cardinal men’s volleyball team returns to the Bay Area for two matches this week.
Stanford (8-4, 7-4 MPSF) faced two top-five teams last weekend, falling to No. 4 Pepperdine (7-4, 7-3) on Friday before taking down No. 3 USC (8-5, 6-4) on Saturday. The Cardinal played well on offense in both matches, hitting a season-high .495 as a team against Pepperdine and a respectable .346 against USC, but played significantly better overall against the Trojans, recording 59 digs to only 14 against Pepperdine.
“A big reason for the difference in the results of this past weekend was our defense, particularly blocking and digging,” said sophomore outside hitter Brad Lawson, who led the Card in kills against USC.
The match against USC was a statistical gold mine for the Card, with three players — Lawson, senior opposite Evan Romero and junior outside hitter Spencer McLachlin — recording double-digit kills. On the defense side of things, Lawson, senior setter Kawika Shoji and sophomore libero Erik Shoji all recorded double-digit digs, and the duo of sophomore middle blocker Gus Ellis and senior middle blocker Garrett Werner combined for 16 blocks.
The Cardinal hopes that its next two matches, against Division-III UC-Santa Cruz on Wednesday and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) opponent Pacific on Friday, will fit more into the USC mold. Fortunately for the Cardinal, neither of these opponents is quite as strong as the team’s competition last week, but that does not mean the team will be complacent.
“One thing that should motivate us to stay focused for the upcoming matches is the fact that eight teams in our league are within one loss of the top of the conference,” Lawson said. “At the outset of the season, we promised that we would respect every team, regardless [of] if they were a No. 1 powerhouse or a team vying for their first win in the MPSF — a goal that will also help us stay focused and on track this week.”
Against both of its opponents this weekend, the Cardinal will need this focus to avoid an upset.
Although Santa Cruz plays in Division-III, it is one of the top teams in the division, ranked No. 2 in the country as of last week. Additionally, in an earlier match this season between the two teams, Santa Cruz managed to take a set from the Card before falling in four sets.
Pacific is also an opponent the Card may need to watch out for. The Tigers are at the bottom of the MPSF, not having won a conference game all season, but in a conference as talented and deep as the MPSF, any team is a potential threat. Pacific is no exception, and just last week, the Tigers took two sets from No. 3 USC before falling in five.
Last time the two teams met, Stanford got a much-needed conference win over the Tigers at Maples Pavilion in four sets. Romero and Lawson led the Cardinal with 17 kills each, while the Tigers were led by redshirt freshman outside hitter Taylor Hughes and sophomore outside hitter Florian Gornick, who had 22 and 16 kills, respectively. Stanford will again be fighting for a much-needed win against the Tigers, as it looks to improve on its current fifth-place position in the conference.
Stanford’s game against UC-Santa Cruz will take place at 7 p.m. tonight in Maples Pavilion, while the game against Pacific will start at 7 p.m. on Pacific’s campus in Stockton.