Publication Date: Wednesday, January 21, 2004
Stanford men shock No. 2 UCLA and Irvine in volleyball, grab first
Stanford men shock No. 2 UCLA and Irvine in volleyball, grab first
(January 21, 2004) Freshman tennis player captures women's singles title in Las Vegas; Cardinal men still undefeated in swimming
by Rick Eymer
The Stanford men's volleyball team took advantage of its home gym to turn the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings upside down in the first weekend of conference action.
When the smoke cleared, the 11th-ranked Cardinal (2-0, 4-2) found themselves in first place in the MPSF after upsetting previously unbeaten and second-ranked UCLA, 30-28, 30-25, 25-30, 28-30, on Friday in Burnham Pavilion.
Stanford followed that with a come-from-behind victory over visiting UC Irvine, 25-30, 28-30, 30-27, 30-28, 17-15, on Saturday. It was also the Anteaters' first conference loss.
The Cardinal set the stage with their game one victory over the Bruins. Stanford scored the final two points to earn the 30-28 win as setter Kevin Hansen put the Cardinal ahead to stay with a kill.
Hansen had seven kills and a team-high nine digs to go along with his 49 assists.
"Hansen was everywhere for us," said Stanford coach Don Shaw. "He's a great player and he played like it. But it really was a team effort; everyone shared the load. For us to be successful, we need to have that kind of balance."
Stanford also took a late lead in game four, with Craig Buell recording a service to go up, 26-25. Ben Reddy had two straight kills to end the game and match.
"They're (UCLA) a really good team, and we knew that they would comeback on us," said Shaw. "We were determined to come back in the fourth game, and the guys responded and played at a very high level."
David Vogel led the Cardinal with 16 kills, while Reddy and Chris Ahlfeldt each had 13.
UC Irvine won the first two games before Stanford rallied for the victory.
Stanford began to turn things around in game three, taking a 13-7 edge and holding on for the win.
In game four, the Cardinal were down by three points late before battling to take a 29-28 after a kill by Ahlfeldt. Moments later, Buell and sophomore William Clayton stuffed a UCI attempt to end the game.
Stanford also had to fight back from a deficit in the fifth game. The Anteaters led 14-12. A hitting error by UCI and a block by Hansen, Vogel and Buell tied it at 14-all Stanford eventually won on a UCI hitting error.
Buell had 17 kills and hit at a .615 clip while Vogel also added 17 kills. Hansen had 52 assists, a team-high 10 digs and three block assists.
Stanford faces a rough road trip this weekend with matches at Long Beach State on Friday and at UC San Diego on Saturday.
Women's tennis
Freshman Theresa Logar brought some impressive tennis credentials to Stanford, and now she's starting her collegiate career on the right foot.
Logar, who won the Super Nationals Hard Court Tournament over the summer, won the singles title of the Freeman Memorial Championships in Las Vegas on Sunday with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over North Carolina's Aniela Mojzis.
Logar was unseeded in the 32-player field. Mojzis was the third seed.
Logar advanced to the championship match after defeating Arizona State's Joslynn Burkett 6-2, 6-1 in the quarterfinals, and top-ranked Tammy Encina of Tennessee in three sets, 1-6, 6-4, 6-0, in the semifinals on Saturday.
Stanford's Alice Barnes, seeded second, defeated teammate Story Tweedie-Yates 7-6, 6-7, 6-2 in another quarterfinal match, but fell to Mojzis 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals.
Logar, Barnes and Tweedie-Yates each won twice on Friday.
Cardinal Emilia Anderson, seeded No. 5, secured a 6-4, 6-4 victory in the first round over Texas' Blakeley Griffith, but fell to Florida's Boglarka Berecz 6-2, 7-5 in the second round.
Joanna Kao beat Anne Claire Ortiz of UNLV in the first round 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, but lost in the second round to Mojzis 6-1, 6-2.
In Seattle, Stanford senior Lauren Barnikow took third place in the top flight at the Pacific-10 Conference Indoor Championships on Sunday at the University of Washington's Lloyd Nordstrom Tennis Center.
Barnikow defeated California's Catherine Lynch 6-1, 6-3 in the final day of competition. After a three-set loss in the first round of Flight I, Barnikow tallied three wins in consolation action on the way to her third-place finish.
Kara Guzman and Jessica Leck also fell in first-round action.
Men's swimming
Stanford freshman Hongzhe Sun showed he could handle short races as well as long ones in winning two events in Stanford's 107-92 victory over visiting Pacific on Saturday in a nonconference meet.
Sun won the 50 free in 21.33, and then came back to win the 500 free in 4:31.55. Kyle Ransom also won two events.
Michael McLean, Ben Wildman-Tobriner, Andy Grant and Gary Marshall also won events for the Cardinal, who open the Pac-10 season at 1 p.m. on Friday against Arizona State at Avery Aquatic Center.
McLean swam a 9:10.20 to win the 1,000 free while Wildman-Tobriner won the 200 free in a time of 1:40.69.
Ransom (1:52.66) led a sweep of the 200 IM and came back to win the 200 back in 1:54.24.
Grant (46.44) led a sweep of the 100 freestyle, while Marshall won the 200 breast in 2:03.92.
Men's tennis
Menlo School grad James Pade and doubles partner KC Corkery won their first round match at the Sherwood Cup in Thousand Oaks, but were then forced to retire in a walk over injury in the second round.
Stanford junior Phil Sheng and freshman Chris Rasmussen defeated Philip Gruendler and Aaron Yovan of UCLA, 8-6.
In singles action on Friday, all six Stanford players dropped their first round matches.
Wrestling
Stanford (1-1, 4-4) defeated Oregon, 31-6, in a Pac-10 dual match on Thursday for its first victory over the Ducks since 1995.
Shawn Ritzenthaler came from behind to beat Cody Parker, 10-8, at 285 pounds to set the tone of the match as Stanford won eight of 10 matches. Brad Metzler recorded the only pin, beating Johnny Lugo at 1:56 at 141 pounds.
At the Aggie Open on Saturday, four Cardinal wrestlers won individual titles: Tanner Gardner (125), Brad Metzler (141), Luis Vendrell (149), and Matt Gentry (157).
In addition, John Garfinkel (184) reached the finals, but came away with second place. Seven other Stanford wrestlers were place winners at the annual tournament.
Stanford travels to Cal Poly for a match on Friday.
Women's gymnastics
Stanford was upset by host Arizona State, 195.825-195.500, in the Pac-10 opener for both teams on Sunday.
The win ended Stanford's nine-match winning streak over the Sun Devils.
Senior Lise Léveillé and sophomore Natalie Foley tied for first with a score of 9.825 in the vault.
Women's volleyball
Stanford junior Ogonna Nnamani was one of four new players who joined the United States National Team on Thursday as it begins preparations for the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
Nnamani was joined by 16-year-old Cynthia Barboza, USC senior Nicole Davis, and UOP senior Jennifer Joines.
"They will definitely bring up the level of our training," said national coach Toshi Yoshida said of the newcomers. "I hope they can show us their ability to play at this level. I have high expectations for them."
Nnamani, a 6-1 outside hitter, earned her third-straight AVCA All-America award in December as she averaged 6.06 points per game in 2003. She set a school record with 627 kills this past season as part of a 5.45 kill average. Nnamani hit .309 on the year with 2.31 digs and 0.63 blocks per game.
"Ogonna is a left-side pass-hitter, although she did not pass a lot last season at Stanford," said Yoshida. "She is a talented attacker, and I am going to improve her skills as a passer."
Nnamani joins Stanford grad Logan Tom, who has been with the National Team since before the 2000 Olympic Games.
Fencing
Stanford dropped a competition to visiting Columbia on Wednesday.
The women's foil competition was highlighted by strong performances by Stanford senior Eva Petschnigg, who won two of her three bouts.
In men's saber, senior Robert Owens, sophomore Jonathan Pearlstein, and freshman Curtis Andrus topped Columbia, 5-4, for Stanford's only squad victory.
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