| LINESCORE | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | F | ||
| UC San Diego (1-5, 0-4 MPSF) | 16 | 20 | 19 | 0 | |
| No. 8 Stanford (4-1, 2-1 MPSF) | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 | |
| STAT COMPARISON | ||
|---|---|---|
| UCSD | STAN | |
| Kills | 26 | 39 |
| Attack pct. | .135 | .373 |
| Assists | 24 | 33 |
| Aces | 3 | 7 |
| Digs | 22 | 28 |
| Blocks | 5.0 | 8.5 |
Box Score
STANFORD, Calif. - Keyed by strong performances from Gabriel Vega and Madison Hayden, the No. 8 Stanford men's volleyball team cruised past the visiting UC-San Diego Tritons 25-16, 25-20, 25-19 in its regular season home-opener at Burnham Pavilion on Friday night.
The Cardinal (4-1, 2-1 MPSF) rebounded well coming off its first loss of the year against top-ranked BYU by recording its second sweep of the year while sending the Tritons (1-4, 0-3 MPSF) to their third consecutive loss.
Ranked in the national top-10 for the first time since the end of the 2014 season, Stanford built leads of 8-2 and 19-11 en route to winning the first set 25-16. Thanks to several early blocks from senior middle blocker Conrad Kaminski, the Cardinal jumped out an 8-2 advantage, forcing UCSD into its first timeout.
The Tritons, unable to solve Stanford's front line, never got closer than five thereafter in the opening set and were held to a .000 hitting percentage (8 kills, 8 errors). Kevin Rakestraw and Hayden led the Cardinal with three kills apiece, and the team tallied 5.5 total blocks to UCSD's 1.0. With the win, Stanford remained perfect (5-0) in opening sets this season.
And though UCSD put up a much tougher fight in the second, its efforts were thwarted by strong performances from Hayden and Kaminski, who combined for eight kills on 13 attempts. Early kills from Tanner Syftesad and Shayne Beamer gave the Tritons their first lead of the match at 4-2, but Stanford battled back to tie the set at eight and never trailed from there on out, prevailing 25-20.
The Cardinal stayed efficient on offense, limiting itself to just four errors while once again hitting over .300. Senior James Shaw added two services aces, and his play at the net helped Stanford limit the normally potent Kirill Rudenko (3.00 kills/set) to zero second-set kills.
UCSD continued its strong play well into the third set, but Stanford's size and power were simply too much as it finished off the sweep 25-19. The Tritons jumped ahead by three on two occasions (8-5, 10-7), and went up 15-13 on an error from Kaminski. That would prove to be would be their last advantage of the match, as two kills from Vega and a pair of aces from Shaw sent the Cardinal on a 7-0 spurt to put the set out of reach.
Vega totaled eight kills on 12 attempts in the third, with fellow senior Alex Stephanus recording two kills off the bench. Freshman Chris Moore notched the game-winning kill in his collegiate debut.
Vega finished with a match-high 12 kills, and added an ace to go along with three block assists. Kaminski and Rakestraw notched four blocks each, and Shaw was tops on the team with 28 assists. UCSD was led by six kills apiece from Ian Colbert and Beamer.
The Cardinal next face fourth-ranked UC Irvine on Saturday, Jan. 23. First serve is slated for 7 p.m. at Burnham Pavilion.
