Nov. 10, 1999

The Stanford men’s volleyball team will take on the University of the Pacific on Saturday, Nov. 13, at Burnham Pavilion located at Stanford University. The match will begin at noon and is free to the public.

The Cardinal is coming off a three-match exhibition road trip to Southern California, where they played UC-Santa Barbara, UCLA and CS-Northridge. The Cardinal scored a victory against Santa Barbara on Friday, Nov. 5, winning in five games, 2-15, 12-15, 15-4, 15-13, 15-9. Stanford met UCLA at Pauley Pavilion the next day, falling in three games, 15-11, 15-2, 15-8. The final stop on the three-match exhibition tour was at Northridge, where Stanford was swept in four games, 15-6, 15-3, 15-6, 15-9.

The Cardinal will enter the 2000 regular season with a few familiar faces and host of upcoming freshman. Stanford will look towards the senior guidance of outside hitter Josh Palacios and to junior middle blocker Brett Youngberg to help keep Stanford on the map as one of the most successful volleyball programs in the country. Palacios returns as the team leader in digs (143) and second (147) to Youngberg (286) in kills.

Junior setters Josh Lukens and Brad Griffith are expected to give Stanford a solid corps of setters, after both players split time at the position a year ago. Lukens appeared in 45 games, recording a team-high 713 assists, while Griffith saw action in 70 games, compiling 688 assists and 32 block assists.

Leading a strong group of freshman for Stanford this season is Curt Toppel. Toppel was one of the mostly highly recruited players coming out Loyola High School last season and has already made an impact on the team after recording 18 kills versus UCLA last weekend.

The Cardinal open their regular season on Thursday, Jan. 6, at the UCSB Collegiate, before returning home to take on UC San Diego at 7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 14. Stanford men’s volleyball will make the move to Maples Pavilion for all of its 11 regular-season matches.