April 18, 1998

MALIBU, Calif. - Stanford's 1998 men's volleyball season came to end with a 15-12, 6-15, 15-3, 15-5 to Pepperdine in the opening round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match Saturday night at Firestone Fieldhouse.

Stanford dominated game #1 racing to an 12-1 lead. Stanford led 13-2 when Pepperdine scored eight points to close the margin to 13-10. A block solo by Tad Hoffman increased Stanford's lead to 14-10, but the Waves cut the margin to 14-12 on two blocks at the net. However, Josh Lukens served an ace and Stanford won game one, 15-12.

The momentum of the match shifted in game two and the remainder of the match. Stanford jumped to a 2-0 lead, but Pepperdine scored 12 of the next 13 points to jump to a 12-3 lead. From there, Pepperdine closed it out and won 15-5.

In game three, more domination at the net and the hitting of Pepperdine All-American George Roumain. Stanford scored the first point of the game, but Pepperdine proceeded to outscore Stanford, 14-1, to easily take the game, 15-3.

In game five, Pepperdine raced to an 11-0 lead, and cruised from there.

"We have a good plan, and it worked in game one," said Stanford head coach Ruben Nieves. "The plan was to jump serve them hard, and it worked for a game. But as the match went along, Pepperdine got stronger and we got weaker. George Roumain dominated play for Pepperdine, hitting, blocking and digging. Roumain not only gets my vote for MPSF Player of the Year, but also my vote for AVCA Player of the Year."

*** Stanford finishes the year, 15-8.
*** Tad Hoffman ended the year with 154 blocks, third-best for a single season
at Stanford.
*** Devin Poolman finishes his career with 96 career service aces,
fourth-best in school history.
*** Keenan Whitehurst collected 476 career blocks, #2 all-time at Stanford.
*** Four players ended their careers: seniors Devin Poolman, Keenan
Whtehurst, Tad Hoffman, Tyler Neal.