The No. 8 Stanford men’s volleyball team came out of its opening weekend of league play with mixed results: after falling to UCLA in four games on Friday (19-30, 30-24, 24-30, 18-30), the Cardinal toppled defending national champion UC-Irvine 3-1 on Saturday (30-28, 23-30, 30-28, 30-28).

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After splitting its two matches this weekend in Southern California, Stanford is now 3-1 on the year. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/8342
Mehmet Inonu

After splitting its two matches this weekend in Southern California, Stanford is now 3-1 on the year.

Hopes were running high for the Cardinal, which came into its Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) opener against No. 4 UCLA with an undefeated record.

Sophomore Evan Romero led the Cardinal (3-1, 1-1 MPSF) against the Bruins with a team-high 22 kills. Senior captain Matt Ceran posted a double-double with 11 kills and a team-high 14 digs, while freshman Charley Henrickson came in and recorded 8 kills on a .429 hitting percentage. Sophomore Kawika Shoji added to the Cardinal effort with 50 assists, reaching the half-century mark in assists for the second consecutive match.

Sophomore Garrett Muagututia led the Bruins with 15 kills, two aces, and four block assists. Redshirt junior Jamie Diefenbach recorded 12 kills on a .750 hitting percentage and seven blocks, and redshirt sophomore Brett Perrine posted 12 kills and 4 blocks. Junior Matt Wade finished with 52 assists on the match.

“We lost the serving and passing battle,” Shoji said. “We needed to be more aggressive in every aspect of the game.”

After the disappointing loss to UCLA, Stanford rebounded to secure a win over No. 7 UC-Irvine. It was the Cardinal’s second victory over the Anteaters this year.

Stanford was led by Ceran, who posted his second consecutive double-double with a team-high 18 kills and 10 digs. Romero recorded 18 kills while freshman Spencer McLachlin added 8 kills and 3 digs. Shoji had 51 assists, recording more than 50 for the third consecutive match.

UCI was led by junior Taylor Wilson, who posted 18 kills on a .351 hitting percentage. Redshirt freshman Cory Yoder and freshman Kevin Carroll weren’t far behind at 14 kills on .542 hitting and 13 kills at .304, respectively. Redshirt freshman Anthony Spittle handed out 50 assists and junior libero Brent Asuka picked up a team-high 12 digs.

The Cardinal opened game one against the Anteaters with an early 6-2 lead. The team maintained that lead until 22-18, when UCI scored four consecutive points to tie the game at 22-22. The Cardinal again jumped into the lead with a service ace from Romero, but the Anteaters again caught up a triple block on McLachlin and a kill from Wilson to tie the game at 28-28. A service ace from Shoji and an attack error by UCI gave Stanford a 30-28 victory.

The second game saw the Anteaters open up with a strong 14-9 lead over the Cardinal. With UCI holding the score at 22-18, a solo block on Shoji, a kill from Carroll, and a double block on McLachlin brought the score to 25-18 and forced a Cardinal timeout. A number of Stanford errors ended the game at 30-23 and the match was tied 1-1.

Irvine again took the lead in game three, holding the score at 10-7 before the Cardinal rallied back to within one at 12-11. Stanford scored the next five points, the last on a kill from Shoji, to bring to score to 16-12. They maintained the lead to end the game at 30-28 and take a two-to-one lead in the match.

In game four the Anteaters again opened with an early lead, but the Cardinal fought back to tie the game at 17-17. UCI took a 24-21 advantage before the Cardinal caught up at 25-25. A service ace from Shoji and a kill from senior Jesse Meredith gave Stanford game and match point at 29-27, and a kill from Ceran ended the game at 30-28, securing the 3-1 victory.

“We showed a lot of heart in rebounding with a huge win,” said Shoji. “We outworked our opponent and made big plays in the end.

Stanford returns to action against UC Santa Cruz tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Burnham Pavilion.