The last time that the No. 10 Stanford men’s volleyball team faced the University of the Pacific, the then-winless Tigers got their first win of the season. When the Cardinal travels to Stockton tonight, the team will be trying to deny Pacific its second.

Since their last meeting just two weeks ago, Stanford (8-5, 4-5) has garnered back-to-back victories against Ball State and UCSB; the team, however, dropped its most recent match with a loss to Cal State-Northridge last Saturday. The Tigers (1-11, 1-8), meanwhile, lost three in a row against the same set of opponents.

In the Jan. 31 sweep at Stanford, the Tigers beat the Cardinal with more consistent hitting and better blocking, led by Jeff Hendershot’s 10 kills and five blocks. Sophomore Evan Romero had a solid night for Stanford with 16 kills, but the rest of the offense struggled and the team lost in three games: 30-21, 30-26, 30-24.

“It was extremely frustrating,” said freshman outside hitter Spencer McLachlin, who missed the match with an ankle injury. “We played with no energy. It seemed like we thought they would give in, because they were winless. But they are actually a really good team. They just have not been playing to their potential — then they decided to play their best match against us and we were not ready mentally.”

While the Cardinal has utilized rotating lineups throughout the season so far, Romero has been a constant force at the opposite hitter position. His 196 kills are a team high and he is among Stanford’s leaders in digs and blocks. Romero also leads the team with 14 service aces on the year.

Senior outside hitter Matt Ceran is second on the team with 141 kills. Since returning from his injury, McLachlin has joined an outside hitting corps that also includes redshirt junior Jesse Meredith and sophomore Kawika Shoji. Shoji leads the team in assists despite splitting time with junior Miki Groppi.

The middle blocking group — juniors Brandon Williams and Cameron Christoffers, sophomore Garrett Werner and freshmen Charley Henrikson and Max Halvorson — have all started at least one match.

Pacific, on the other hand, looks primarily to seniors Pekka Seppanen, Blake Gentry and Simon Chen-Byerley to lead its team. After a few slow matches, Seppanen exploded with 33 kills in last week’s four-game loss to Santa Barbara, scoring half as many kills as the entire UCSB team. The Finnish outside hitter is the top attacker and server on the Tigers’ roster and one of its best diggers.

“He’s really good,” McLachlin said of Seppanen. “He’s one of those guys who is not very tall but is so crafty that he somehow manages to get a kill almost every time. When he’s hot, their team is very good.”

One of the biggest differences in the last match with Pacific was in blocking — the Cardinal got outblocked 12 to 4 in the match. Henrikson and Williams lead the Cardinal blocking, but overall, the team averages fewer than 2 per game.

“We’re putting a lot of emphasis on blocking in practice,” McLachlin said. “We are near the bottom of the league in blocks per game, so that has been a main focus for coach Kosty.”

A win this weekend would push the Cardinal’s conference record to 5-5 before next week’s two-game visit to undefeated and top-ranked BYU. Plus, it would be a satisfying emotional victory after the team’s early-season loss to the Tigers.

“[The loss] is definitely a motivational factor for us,” McLachlin, said. “Last year they swept us, so I know a lot of the guys definitely want to get a win against Pacific. It’s been a couple of years since we beat them and they’re our rivals.”

Stanford plays at Pacific tonight at 7 p.m. The Cardinal’s next home matches will be Feb. 27 and Feb. 28, both against No. 15 Hawaii.