UCLA
Stanford
Third-Ranked Bruins Take Down Stanford in Three Sets
January 20, 2012 | Men's Volleyball
Jan. 20, 2012
Los Angeles, Calif. - Led by sophomore Gonzalo Quiroga's 16 kills and 18 points the third ranked UCLA Bruins swept the Stanford Cardinal in three sets on Friday night.
With the win, the Bruins improved to 6-1 on the season and 1-0 in conference play. The Cardinal dropped to 3-1 and 1-1 in the MPSF. Set scores were 25-23, 25-22 and 25-17.
In the first set, UCLA jumped on Stanford right from the start and eventually caused the Cardinal to call timeout after going up 16-11. After increasing their lead to 19-14 in part to a couple of Quiroga kills, the Bruins would push ahead and get their lead to 22-16 after a Brad Lawson service error for Stanford and a Quiroga ace. Though the Cardinal would not quit and pushed the set to 24-23 before Jeremy Casebeer ended any hope of a Stanford comeback by scoring a kill and putting UCLA up one set to none.
The second set was very closely contested as both teams traded points to get the set to 12-12. After the Cardinal took a 16-13 lead, the Bruins stormed back behind a Stanford attack error, another Quiroga kill and a Nick Vogel ace to even the set at 16-16 and force a Cardinal timeout. UCLA would not look back after that and after calling timeout with a 22-21 lead, the Bruins would capitalize on a Stanford service error and back-to-back kills by Quiroga to win the set 25-23.
Again in the third set the Bruins were determined to make sure that there would be no comeback for Stanford, jumping out to a quick 6-0 lead to start the set. The Cardinal were unable to cut into the deficit at all and eventually fell in the third set 25-17, giving UCLA the three sets to none victory over the Cardinal. It was the Bruins' first win over Stanford since April 16, 2010.
As mentioned above, UCLA was led by Gonzalo Quiroga's 16 kills and 18 points. Quiroga also hit a staggering .538 in the match on 26 attempts. Setter Kyle Caldwell also had a stellar night, registering 31 set assists and setting the Bruins to a .376 hitting percentage in the match. He was also big at the net, recording one solo block and four block assists. Jeremy Casebeer had a game-high 11 digs on the night and was second to Quiroga with 8.5 points. Seniors Weston Dunlap and Thomas Amberg also recorded eight points apiece, with Dunlap having six kills and four block assists and Amberg having seven kills and two block assists.
UCLA will now take on the Pacific Tigers in a home conference match tomorrow, Jan. 21 at 7 pm in the John Wooden Center.
