After a pair of tough losses the previous weekend, the No. 8 Stanford men’s volleyball team was looking to rebound against unranked UC-San Diego and No. 4 Long Beach State this weekend.

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Jason Chuang

Evan Romero and the Cardinal will look to bounce back from their defeat at the hands of the 49ers last weekend and move up from their current sixth place in the MPSF as they take on UCLA and UC-Irvine this week.

The Cardinal swept the Tritons in a decisive 3-0 (30-20, 35-33, 30-20) win on Friday, regaining some much-needed momentum going into the team’s final games. They were set back again, however, in a tough loss to the Long Beach State 49ers 3-0 (30-24, 30-25, 30-17) on Saturday.

Against the Tritons, the Cardinal was led by sophomore Evan Romero, who scored 24 points with 21 kills. Freshman Spencer McLachlin had a double-double, with 11 kills and 11 digs. Senior Matt Ceran also tallied 10 kills and eight digs. As a team, the Cardinal recorded seven aces.

“Our serving was on, especially in game one and game three,” said head coach John Kosty of the win. “We played really well from the service line and we were able to control their offense.”

In game one, the Cardinal got out to an early 5-1 lead on a pair of kills from Romero and a kill from Ceran. The Tritons called a timeout, but were unable to regroup following the break. The Cardinal maintained a sizeable lead for much of the game. A number of Triton kills brought them within three at 20-17, but an equal number of errors widened the gap to bring the score to 26-19. Stanford closed out the game with a couple of kills from McLachlin and a kill from Romero.

Game two saw the Tritons fight back from a 1-0 deficit, keeping the game close in opening rallies before obtaining a modest 10-8 lead. The Cardinal quickly answered with kills from McLachlin and junior Cameron Christoffers, bringing the score to 12 apiece. The two teams rallied back and forth for 16 points, tying the game eight times. A kill from Christoffers and a pair of service aces from freshman Ian Connolly broke the tie and gave the Cardinal a 23-20 lead.

Following a timeout, the Tritons rallied back and the teams traded points again all the way to bonus points. A kill from Ceran gave the Cardinal a one-point lead at 34-33, setting up a kill from junior Garrett Werner which sealed the game at 35-33.

In game three, the Cardinal again took an early 6-1 lead and maintained it for much of the first half of the game. At 16-10, a number of Triton errors and a couple of kills by Romero brought the team’s lead to eight at 19-11. More errors brought the score to 24-14, prompting the Tritons to call a timeout. Following the timeout, however, Romero and Werner began firing away with three and two kills, respectively, to close out the game and the match.

Unfortunately, the Cardinal did not fare as well against the top-five 49ers. The 49ers were led by Josh Riley, who had 12 kills, and Paul Lotman, who had eight. Mike Klipsch posted 31 assists. The 49ers also tallied 15 total team blocks.

The Cardinal was led by Romero and McLachlin, who recorded 11 kills each. Sophomore Kawika Shoji had 28 assists. Ceran and freshman Jordan Inafuku had the most digs, with 6 apiece.

Stanford currently sits in sixth place in the MPSF with a record of 10-10. They could end up anywhere between No. 5 and No. 8 at the end of the season, depending on how they fare next weekend against UCLA and UCI. The Cardinal is just behind UCLA, and tied with UCI.

“They’re going to be huge matches for us,” Stanford coach John Kosty said. “We have clinched playoffs, but we haven’t clinched a spot in the playoffs. We definitely want to come out playing tough and winning both matches.”

Stanford returns to the court on Friday when it faces the No. 7 UCLA Bruins. The game will begin 7 p.m. at Maples Pavilion.