Stanford's Jules Sharpe needed only two jumps to secure a season-opening victory for the senior high jumper on the first day of the Cherry and Silver Invitational indoor track and field meet Friday at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

Sharpe's performance highlighted the first day of the meet for the 12 Stanford athletes participating over the two-day competition.

Nine Stanford athletes competed over six events on Friday, with Sharpe the only one to place among the top four in any event.

Sharpe, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation indoor runner-up last season, passed until 6-8 1/4, becoming the last to enter the competition. After clearing his opening height on the first try, he passed again, to 7-0 1/4, and made another first-try clearance.

California's Brian Carmichael cleared the same height, but needed seven tries to get there, after opening at 6-4 1/4 and missing twice along the way. Each missed three times at 7-2.

Stanford senior Elaine Patton was fifth in the women's high jump, clearing 5-6, and Dalton Duvio and Garrett Starkey were seventh and eighth in the men's pole vault. Both cleared 15-9, and the event marked the collegiate debut for Starkey and Dan Emory, who was 13th at 14-9.

Indoor All-America Karynn Dunn made her season debut, but trouble with her steps prevented her from performing well in her specialty, the long jump.

The meet continues Saturday with five Stanford athletes, including Ellie McCardwell and Katie Zingheim in the women's pole vault and Geoffrey Tabor in the men's shot put, competing in four events.

Men's volleyball
Brian Cook had 16 kills, but was unable to prevent undefeated and No. 2 Stanford from being swept by No. 7 USC, 27-25, 25-18, 29-27, in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's volleyball action Friday at the Galen Center.

Stanford (4-1 overall, 1-1 in the MPSF) led late in both the first and third sets, but was unable to maintain its advantage. USC (2-1, 2-1) overcame four Stanford set points in the third set, including two successive at 24-22, before closing out the match.

USC hit .402 as a team and was blocked only three times while earning its fifth consecutive victory in the series and seventh at home in the past eight years against the Cardinal.

Stanford returns to action on Sunday with a 5 p.m. match at No. 4 Pepperdine.

Men's wrestling
Stanford fell to Air Force, 24-12, Friday, in the Ford Center in Stanford, Calif. The Cardinal drops to 4-11 overall this season, while the Falcons improve to 7-5.

Redshirt freshman Evan Silver gave the Cardinal the early 3-0 lead. He secured his 19th win of the year with a 6-3 decision over Air Force's Mitch Brown. Silver score all of his points in the first period with three takedowns. He is now 11-4 in duals this season.

Junior Bret Baumbach collected his fifth straight win of the year with a 3-0 decision over Jesse Stafford at 165 pounds.

In the final match of the evening, Cardinal heavyweight Dan Scherer recorded a fall over Bently Alsup in 5:34. It is the 16th win of the year for the junior and his ninth dual win.

The Cardinal travels to Corvallis, Ore., on Saturday for a Pac-12 dual at Oregon State. The teams are set to square off at 7 p.m. in Gill Coliseum.

— Palo Alto Online Sports

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