True freshman Jeff Menzel did his part by pounding a match-high 21 kills, but it wasn’t enough as sixth-ranked Stanford swept UCSB in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s volleyball action Friday at Robertson Gymnasium.
Game scores were 30-28, 30-26 and 30-26. The Gauchos dropped to 1-6 overall and remained winless in the MPSF at 0-4, while the Cardinal improved to 6-3 and 3-3.
Stanford lost in straight sets at Cal State Northridge on Thursday, and it used the loss as motivation to come out firing against UCSB. For the match, the Cardinal hit a blistering .414 as a team, with 61 kills and just 13 errors in 116 attack attempts. Stanford hit .514 (22-4-35) in game three alone.
Menzel hit .341 with six miscues in 44 swings. The former San Marcos High star also added a service ace, three digs, two blocks and a match-best 23.5 points. Senior middle blocker Theo Brunner provided another bright spot for the Gauchos, posting eight kills with zero errors in 11 attempts (.727). As a team, UCSB swung at .280.
Stanford had three players total 10 or more kills. Both Matt Ceran and Evan Romero had 17, while Jesse Meredith added 13. Meredith hit .522 and was followed closely by Ceran at .517. Defensively, Jarod Keller tallied a match-high 12 digs.
UCSB will look to snap its four-match losing streak Saturday as it hosts Pacific at 7 p.m. The Gauchos’ lone win of the young season came against the Tigers on Jan. 5 at the Elephant Bar Restaurant Collegiate Invitational.
Pacific was swept by Northridge on Friday, making the Tigers 0-7 overall and 0-5 in league play.
Scott Flanders is UCSB‘s associate media relations director.