In its last competition for two weeks, the No. 6 Stanford men's volleyball saw mixed results in Southern California this weekend. The Cardinal came up short against No. 3 Long Beach State on Friday night before rebounding to beat UC-San Diego on Saturday.

Stanford (14-7, 9-7 MPSF) enters a two-week break with five wins in its last six outings. After its well deserved rest, the Cardinal will visit No. 5 Pepperdine and No. 10 Southern California at the end of the month, then host four straight opponents – UCSD, Long Beach, No. 9 UCLA and No. 8 UC-Irvine – to close out the conference season.

The first game against the 49ers stayed close at the beginning, with the Cardinal holding a slight edge. Long Beach used a five-point run – including three aces in a row by Tommy Pestolesi – to take the 13-10 lead, and Stanford could not close that gap down the stretch. The Cardinal staved off two game points, but the 49ers finally got the 30-28 win on a kill.

The Cardinal again started strong in the second, jumping ahead 7-4 with three blocks in a four-point span. That advantage held until Long Beach took its first lead of the game at 13-12. That quickly ballooned to 20-16, thanks to a pair of service aces, and the 49ers ran away with it. The game ended appropriately with an ace, 30-23.

For the third time, the teams were locked in a battle for the first half of the game. The score was tied as late as 16-all, but the 49ers pulled ahead and the Cardinal could not regain the lead. The 49ers capped the sweep with the 30-27 third game win.

Sophomore opposite Evan Romero led the Cardinal with 18 kills; he was the only Stanford hitter in double digits. Freshman libero Jordan Inafuku had a team-high nine digs and junior middle blocker Brandon Williams led all players with six blocks.

While the teams were evenly matched, serving proved to be the Cardinal's downfall. Each team missed 14 serves, but Long Beach recorded 13 aces to Stanford's three.

It was more of the same to start the next night as the Cardinal stayed with the Tritons point-for-point before falling behind. The score was tied as late as 17-all, but UCSD finished the game on a 13-6 run, closing it out 30-23 on a block.

The Cardinal, though, broke out in the second game, forcing the Tritons to use their second timeout at 17-10. Stanford's lead hit double digits at 25-15 on an ace by freshman outside hitter Spencer McLachlin, and the Cardinal cruised to the 30-20 win.

Stanford carried that momentum into the third game, leading 7-2 before UCSD started to come back. The Tritons managed to tie at 10 before the Cardinal pulled ahead for good. A UCSD service error ended the game at 30-23.

The Tritons came out strong in the fourth game, but Stanford came back to take control halfway through. UCSD led as late as 18-17, but senior outside hitter Matt Ceran pushed the Cardinal to the 30-23 victory. He had four kills and two blocks in the game's final 10 points.

Romero and Ceran led the Cardinal offense with 18 kills each, while McLachlin added 14. McLachlin notched a match-high three aces, Romero had two and Ceran added one. Inafuku led Stanford with 10 digs while sophomore setter Kawika Shoji finished with four blocks.

With six regular-season games left on its schedule, the Cardinal is well on its way to one of its best seasons in a decade. With three more wins, Stanford will match the 2002 and 2003 teams – four more victories would make for the most wins the program has seen in a season since 1997, when the team went 27-3 and won the NCAA title.

The Cardinal will next play on the road at Pepperdine on March 28. The team's next home game will not be until April 4, when it plays host to UCSD.