In a rematch of last week’s action, the members of the Stanford men’s volleyball team could not beat No. 3 UC-Irvine and No. 7 UCLA — but they did take a step in the right direction. After being swept by both teams on the road a week ago, the Cardinal took the first game from the Bruins in an exciting 30-28 finish.

“I think we played better [than last weekend],” head coach John Kosty said. “I think we are playing better every single weekend, but the hard part is that our opponents are getting better as the season progresses, too.”

The Anteaters (15-2, 9-3 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) showed why they are ranked third in the nation with the 30-27, 30-22, 30-20 sweep. The Bruins (8-7, 6-6) were surprised by the Cardinal (1-15, 1-10) early, but rebounded to seal the four-game win, 28-30, 30-23, 30-19, 30-22.

Despite the losses, Kosty pointed to the progress his young squad has made in the first half of the season.

“I think we have been pretty good with our block and our defense,” he said. “That is what I have been most pleased with, and our passing is getting better also. We are still not siding out at a high percentage, but we are getting good enough.”

“The biggest thing we need to work on is serving,” Kosty continued. “Not actually serving, but more the theory of serving — what is a good miss and what is a bad miss. It’s not so much the number of serves you miss that matters, but when you miss them.”

Serving proved a problem for Stanford this weekend, as the team missed 42 serves in the two matches combined.

“We are continually working on consistency, and that was what we lacked this weekend — especially consistency in serving,” Kosty said. “Our serving woes started in game one, but we picked it up and were effective late in the game. [Freshman setter] Kawika Shoji’s serving basically won the game for us. But then we started having trouble again in the second game; UCLA moved up a notch and we couldn’t respond.”

Against the Anteaters, the Cardinal got off to a quick start, going up 4-1. Irvine erased that deficit, however, taking the lead for good. After fighting off a game point, Stanford fell 30-27 in the frame.

Stanford again led early in the second game and held UC-Irvine off until a four-point run turned a 16-14 Cardinal lead into an 18-16 deficit. From there, the Anteaters rolled to the 30-22 victory.

In the third game, it was Irvine pulling ahead early for good. Stanford could not handle the hot-hitting Anteaters and lost the frame, 30-20.

Junior outside hitter Matt Ceran and freshman right side Evan Romero notched nine kills apiece to lead Stanford, with sophomore middle blocker Brandon Williams chipping in eight on .583 hitting. Ceran, Romero and freshman outside hitter Ed Howell tallied five digs each, while freshman middle blocker Garrett Werner was in on all five of Stanford’s blocks.

On Saturday, UCLA pulled ahead to start the first game. After trailing 14-10, the Cardinal went on a 5-1 run to tie the game at 15 apiece on a block by Werner and Ceran. From then on, the teams traded points and the lead until a three-point Stanford run forced a Bruins timeout. UCLA led at 27-26, but the Cardinal jumped back on top and closed out the game with a kill by Romero, 30-28.

Neither team could keep the ball in the court early in the second game, as five consecutive servers missed. The Bruins finally broke that streak and built a five-point lead at 12-7, which they would not relinquish. After trading service errors, UCLA won the game, 30-23, to even the match.

The Bruins again took an early advantage in the third, but Stanford fought back to force a 10-10 tie. A missed serve gave the lead back to UCLA, who scored four of the next five points. The Bruins then put together runs of five points and four points en route to the 30-19 game victory.

A block gave Stanford the first point of the fourth frame, but UCLA reeled off five straight and quickly pulled ahead, 9-3. The Cardinal held off three match points, but dropped the final game 30-22.

Stanford outhit the Bruins in the first game with a team percentage of .333, but finished with a match total of only .129. Ceran had a team-high 17 kills, while Werner tallied 11 at a blistering .786 pace.

Sophomore libero Jarod Keller posted a match-high 10 digs while Werner led the Cardinal with assists on four of its five blocks.

Stanford next travels south to take on top-ranked Pepperdine and No. 14 USC. The Cardinal and Waves have not yet met this season, while the Trojans slipped by Stanford in five games at a preseason tournament. Stanford will look to improve on this weekend’s performance — particularly from the service line.

“We are still starting a young team that is figuring itself out,” Kosty said. “We are learning different aspects of the game, but haven’t been able to put the whole thing together yet.”