The No. 9 Stanford men’s volleyball team added another win to its current four-game streak last Friday, bringing down Division-III’s No. 2 ranked team, UC-Santa Cruz, in three games: 30-21, 30-16, 30-21.

Santa Cruz is home to some of the smaller and older gyms among west coast schools, with hard floors and poor lighting, wheeled-in bleachers and fans sitting on the floor and standing against the walls, but the Cardinal did not let that affect its play.

“When you play in a small gym, even a small crowd seems like a big crowd,” said freshman Garrett Dobbs. “It did get loud, there was definitely a lot of energy, a lot of heckling. But our players did a good job of keeping cool-headed, staying consistent with playing.”

Freshman outside hitter Spencer McLachlin led the team with 12 kills at an impressive .478 overall attack percentage. Junior middle blocker Brandon Williams wasn’t far behind with nine kills at a stellar .818 attack percentage, while senior outside hitter Matt Ceran and sophomore opposite Evan Romero added nine and seven kills, respectively.

The Cardinal tallied 51 kills to the Banana Slugs’ 30. Furthermore, the Cardinal attack percentage did not dip below .300 in any one of the three games: the team hit .429 on the first game, .357 on the second and .533 on the third.

“Our hitting has been better because our passing has been better in practice and in games,” said Ceran. “We’re more consistent as a unit.”

Sophomore setter Kawika Shoji had a team-high 42 assists. On defense, freshman libero Jordan Inafuku posted a team-high 11 digs. Romero and McLachlin also contributed four digs each on the night.

The Cardinal held the Banana Slugs to a low attack percentage the entire match. In the second game, Stanford held the Banana Slugs to just four kills on 22 attempts, while forcing 10 errors, for a -.273 attack percentage.

The Cardinal had eight team blocks, compared to 9.5 for the Slugs.

“One of their better qualities as a team was blocking,” said Dobbs. “We dealt with that pretty well, attacking the block and covering our hitters.

“Our blockers, on the other hand, are doing a pretty good job taking away areas of the court, so we’re getting hit around a lot, which gives our defense good chances of getting the ball.”

The first game saw the Cardinal play a few long rallies, committing few errors on passing and attacking. The Cardinal’s consistency proved too much for the Banana Slugs, and Stanford took the game 30-21.

The team set the tone in the first play of the second game after a dump kill by Shoji. The Cardinal maintained the momentum and the lead for the rest of the game, closing it out, 30-16.

The third game saw the Banana Slugs rally back late in the game, with the score close in the 20s, but the Slugs passed the ball over the net, and Ceran responded with a definitive closed-fisted kill. The Cardinal went on to finish the game at 30-21, sealing the win at 3-0.

Stanford returns to action this Friday when it travels south to face Long Beach State.