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NewsvineThis past weekend roughed up the No. 15 Stanford men’s volleyball team, as the squad dropped three straight matches at the UC-Santa Barbara-hosted Elephant Bar Tournament before taking last place in the contest.
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The Cardinal (1-3) fell to No. 12 Pacific (1-2) in their final match of the tournament last Saturday. Stanford kept it close in the first game before the Tigers squeaked out the 30-27 victory. Stanford was quick to retaliate in game two, notching a .448 hitting percentage en route to a 30-28 win.
The Cardinal’s attack would be silenced the rest of the night, however, as Pacific secured the next two games by margins of 30-14 and 30-16. Stanford senior opposite Ben Reddy led the way with 15 kills, while freshman setter Miki Groppi collected 40 assists and 10 digs for the Cardinal. Pacific’s outside hitter, Andreas Baboulidis, led the Tigers’ attack with 21 kills. The loss placed Stanford last in the eight-team tournament.
“We have a long way to go,” Reddy said. “We have a lot of things we obviously need to work on, like defense, blocking and serving. There were times this past weekend where we played well. So hopefully we can work on those and make fewer mistakes.”
Stanford, the No. 8 seed in the tournament, suffered its first loss of the season against first-round opponent UCLA (2-1). Senior setter Jeremy Jacobs collected 20 assists while Reddy notched 19 kills and two service aces. Outside hitter Sean O’Malley led the way for the Bruins as UCLA cruised to 30-14, 30-24 and 30-22 victories.
The second round of the tournament saw the Cardinal drop a 0-3 decision to fifth-seeded UC-Irvine (3-1). The Anteaters made easy work of Stanford with decisive 30-21, 30-12 and 30-20 margins. In playing only two games, Reddy led the charge with seven kills.
Associate head coach John Kosty attributed the Cardinal’s tough weekend to a need for improved passing.
“We need to come in here and pass and serve a little better to be right up there with our competition,” said Kosty, who will take over for retiring head coach Don Shaw at the season’s end. “Our offense will get better as the season progresses, and that improvement starts with passing.”
The Cardinal opened their season with a 3-0 win over UC-Santa Cruz on Jan. 4. Stanford hit .327 while limiting the Banana Slugs to .224.
With five seniors leading a relatively young team, players such as Reddy find themselves in challenging role-model positions.
“We all lead in different ways,” Reddy said. “Jeremy [Jacobs] is a little more vocal, and [senior middle blocker Chris] Ahlfeldt is more silent and leads by example. I try to combine both techniques. We have a good group of young guys on the team.”
Kosty said that despite early setbacks this past weekend, the UCSB tournament will provide a solid foundation for the Cardinal’s effort throughout the season.
“It didn’t feel that great last weekend,” Reddy added. “It will definitely provide motivation, especially for some of the younger guys who have never played at the college level before. They start to figure out what it takes to play at this high of a level.”