No. 4 Stanford men’s volleyball (17-3, 15-3 MPSF) will remain on The Farm this Wednesday as it looks to earn its second victory of the season over No. 10 Cal State Northridge (13-12, 6-12).

The Cardinal and CSUN previously met on Feb. 6, when the Cardinal came up with a 3-0 sweep against the then-No. 12 Matadors. This victory ignited an eight-game win streak for Stanford that was only recently broken by a close 3-2 loss to No. 9 Pepperdine on March 12.

“We’re a little nervous but at the same time excited,” sophomore libero Evan Enriques said about the Wednesday match.

The Matadors have proven themselves a consistently strong team throughout the year and will likely be a tough opponent for Stanford. The team is currently ranked 12th nationally in blocks per set with an impressive 2.24 average. Stanford ranks eight spots above this with 2.76 blocks-per-set of its own, a nice advantage but by no means impossible for the Matadors to overcome.

Before the last few games, Stanford was ranked fourth in the NCAA with kills-per-set, averaging an astounding 13.12. Recently, however, the numbers have dropped, and Stanford has fallen to 10th with a 12.84 kills-per-set average. 

The Cardinal have partially offset this struggle by improving their serves — which were comparatively weak the last time the teams faced off — as Stanford is now ranked fifth nationally in aces per set, well above the Matadors’ No. 14 ranking.

The first serve of the game will take place at 7 p.m. in Maples Pavilion.

Contact Laura Sussman at laura111 ‘at’ stanford.edu.