March 13, 1998

STANFORD, Calif. - The sixth-ranked Stanford men's volleyball team picked up where it left off last night in a convincing 3-0 win over UC Irvine as it upset top-ranked UCLA 3-0 (15-11, 15-12, 15-9) tonight in Burnham Pavilion. It was the first meeting between the two teams since last year's NCAA championship match, won by Stanford 3-2. With the win, the Cardinal improved to 12-4 overall and 11-3 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation while UCLA lost just its second match of the season to drop to 17-2 overall and 11-2 in the MPSF.

UCLA asserted itself early, opening up an 8-2 lead in game one. With a 2-1 lead, a kill by Bruin swing hitter Fred Robins and a kill by quick hitter Danny Farmer on an overpass on successive plays made it look like it was going to be a long night for the Cardinal. Stanford didn't give in however, rallying back from the early 8-2 deficit to draw within two points (8-6). After a 3-0 run by UCLA, the Cardinal took over, running off nine unanswered points, capped by a Devin Poolman kill, for a 15-11 game one victory. Poolman, a senior swing hitter from Goleta, Calif. (Dos Pueblos HS) tallied three of his eight game-one kills, along with the first of his five services aces for the match, in the 9-0 run. His five aces tied his season high.

With the momentum in its favor, Stanford opened with a quick 2-0 lead in game two. UCLA reclaimed the lead at 3-2 on a service ace by Ben Moselle before Poolman caught fire again. With three straight service aces, Poolman put the Cardinal back on top and UCLA would be unable to get back on top. The Bruins managed to tie the game at 11 apiece before Stanford pulled away for a 15-12 win.

Despite the 0-2 deficit, the Bruins did not give in, opening up a 6-2 lead in the third. Stanford would again rally, taking the lead at 7-6 and 8-7 to take the life out of the Bruins. A 7-2 run puit the third stanza away and deliver the Cardinal the sweep.

Sophomore outside hitter Andy Witt (Santa Ynez, CA/Santa Ynez HS) led all players with 26 kills while recording a match-high-tying 10 digs. Freshman setter Josh Lukens (San Diego, CA/Mt. Carmel HS) hit a perfect 1.000 (5-0-5) while adding 65 assists and 10 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Josh Palacios (Manhattan Beach, CA/Mira Costa HS) hit .429 (12-3-21) to lead all Cardinal. Moselle led UCLA with 20 kills while hitting a match-high (min. 10 attempts) .483 (20-6-29).