Jan. 9, 2007

Stanford vs. Cal State Northridge - Friday, January 12 (7:00 pm)

Stanford vs. UC Santa Barbara - Saturday, January 13 (5:00 pm)

COMING UP: Stanford looks for their first wins of the season this weekend against eighth-ranked Cal State Northridge and sixth-ranked UC Santa Barbara. The Cardinal start MPSF conference play at Maples Pavilion on Friday, January 12 against Northridge (1-2, 0-0) at 7:00 pm. On Saturday, Stanford takes on UC Santa Barbara (2-1, 0-0) at Burnham Pavilion at 5:00 pm.

STANFORD GOES 0-3 AT ELEPHANT BAR INVITATIONAL: Top-ranked UC Irvine handed Stanford their first loss of the season last Friday afternoon with a 30-23, 30-21, 30-23 win in the first round match of the UCSB Elephant Bar Tournament. Senior Matt Ceran led the Cardinal with 15 kills for the match. Freshman newcomer Evan Romero finished with 12 kills. Sophomore middle blocker Brandon Williams ended the match with an impressive .777 hitting percentage with 7 kills and no errors. Later that evening, Stanford lost a close five game match to Cal State Long Beach 22-30, 30-27, 30-22, 26-30, 13-15. A strong offensive showing kept Stanford in the match, with three players hitting in double-digits. Matt Ceran had a team high 16 kills for the match. Junior outside hitter Jesse Meredith tallied 13 kills, while freshman Ed Howell came off the bench to gave the Cardinal 15 kills. Stanford dropped their final match of the UCSB Elephant Bar Invitational to USC on Saturday 28-30, 30-23, 30-23, 28-30, 12-15. The team had a good showing in the five game match, with both Evan Romero and Matt Ceran tallying 21 kills apiece. Brandon Williams tallied 14 kills with a .600 hitting percentage while freshman Garrett Werner hit .692 on the match with 9 kills.

ABOUT THE MATADORS: Cal State Northridge (1-2, 0-0) faces the Cardinal after winning a five game battle over Long Beach State. They then fell to UC Irvine 3-0 and UCSB 3-1 in the later round of the Elephant Bar Invitational. The Matadors were lead by senior James Lischer who hit .429 with four blocks in the third place match.

ABOUT THE GAUCHOS: UC Santa Barbara (2-1, 0-0) matches up against the Cardinal after finishing third in the Elephant Bar Invitational, with wins over USC 3-0 and Cal State Northridge 3-1, and a loss to UCLA. The Gauchos were lead by senior Evan Patak who recorded 50 kills, 9 aces, and 62 points in 10 games. The sixth-ranked Gauchos hit a solid .383 in three matches coming into this weekend's match-up with the Cardinal.

UP NEXT: Following this weekend's matches, Stanford will compete at home against No. 2 BYU on both Friday and Saturday evening at 7:00 pm.