The No. 6 Stanford men’s volleyball team has had a successful season so far, with only one loss to go with four wins. The sole defeat was at the hands of a higher-ranked team and two of the wins were over the defending national champion, UC Irvine. This weekend, though, the competition will get tougher as the Cardinal hosts the second-ranked team in the nation, Pepperdine, on Saturday night.

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Junior Brandon Williams (7) sets up for a spike. Stanford will face some of its hardest competition this weekend and will rely on its hitters to keep pace with ranked foes Pepperdine and USC. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/8374
Stanford Daily File Photo

Junior Brandon Williams (7) sets up for a spike. Stanford will face some of its hardest competition this weekend and will rely on its hitters to keep pace with ranked foes Pepperdine and USC.

Stanford’s weekend starts tonight with No. 11 USC (3-3, 2-1 MPSF) and then continues with No. 2 Pepperdine (2-0, 2-0) on Saturday. The Cardinal (4-1, 1-1) comes into the weekend after a sweep of UC Santa Cruz on Tuesday night. In that match, every player on the roster — except for freshman outside hitter Spencer McLachlin who was resting due to an ankle injury — saw significant court time.

“In our league, a lot is about serving and passing,” head coach John Kosty said of the keys to the weekend’s games. “We need to be able to run our offense consistently, especially against teams ranked above us.”

For the Cardinal to nab a win on Saturday night against Pepperdine, the team will not only need to execute on offense, but will also face the challenge of counteracting the offensive firepower of Paul Carroll. The AVCA National Player of the Week, Carroll is averaging an astounding 6.7 kills per game for the Waves.

“He is a very good, very big, left-handed hitter,” Kosty said of Carroll. “He has an ability, unlike most players in our league, to really take over a match. We will need to slow him down and then take care of the rest of the team.”

Coming into tonight’s match with USC, Kosty again emphasized the importance of the basics of the game — serving and passing well.

“We need to a have a good serving and passing match and I think we are ready to have one,” he said. “I am looking forward to watching this game and seeing us executing well on that.”

The Trojans opened the 2008 season at the UC Santa Barbara Invitational — the team beat Pacific in four games and was then swept by Long Beach State and Cal State Northridge. In the opening weekend of MPSF play, USC lost in four games to Northridge and then swept Santa Barbara, which was followed by its sweep of Pacific on Wednesday.

Troy Murphy and Juan Figueroa are the top hitters for the Trojans — Murphy leads the team with 72 kills on the season. He also has the most service aces (seven) and is tied with Austin Zahn with a team-high 13 blocks.

“Troy Murphy is a six-foot-eight freshman,” Kosty said. “And Juan Figueroa beat us last year. He is a very good outside hitter, good on defense and a good passer. They will definitely be key.”

In three meetings last year, the Trojans beat the Cardinal all three times, twice in five games and once in four. Figueroa was the top hitter in all three matches, with 23 kills in each of the five-gamers and 24 in the final contest. He also had team highs in digs in two matches.

Pepperdine comes to Stanford this weekend with a pair of wins last weekend over Santa Barbara and Northridge. All-American junior Carroll had 30 kills and hit over .500 in a four-game win over the Gauchos and then posted 17 in a sweep of the Matadors. He has a team-high six aces and is second to Mark Hulse with 10 blocks. Hulse leads with 13.

The Waves swept the Cardinal in their first match last year and won in four at the end of the season. The 2005 NCAA champion, Pepperdine advanced to the national semifinals last year before losing to IPFW. In the lastest poll, the Waves received four of 15 first-place votes and are ranked behind only Brigham Young.

After the Friday night match in Maples, the Cardinal will be back in the more intimate Burnham Pavilion on Saturday.

“They are different environments and each one offers its unique attributes,” Kosty said of the two pavilions. “Maples is the bigger venue and we may get bigger crowds when we play there, and we have the scoreboard and everything like that.

“Then when we go back to Burnham, it is a small and loud gym where your fans are right on top of you. I like them both — they are both very good volleyball venues.”

Following this weekend’s homestand, the Cardinal will be back on the road next week before coming back to campus for two weeks of home play.