Feb. 23, 2007

Box Score

Juan Figueroa had 23 kills, 13 digs and 5 blocks and teammate C.J. Schellenberg added 21 kills to help the No. 14 ranked USC men's volleyball team outlast Stanford, 30-28, 27-30, 30-25, 27-30, 15-5, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match on Friday (Feb. 23) in USC's Galen Center.

USC improved to 5-9 overall and 4-7 in the MPSF, while Stanford lost its sixth straight match to drop to 1-17 and 1-12.

Matt Pavlovich came off the bench in the second game to provide USC with a spark, finishing with 11 kills while hitting .368. Hunter Current hit a match-best .467 for the Trojans while recording 10 kills and Andrew Vernon had 6 blocks.

For Stanford, Evan Romero had 22 kills and 6 blocks, Matt Ceran added 16 kills, 6 digs and 5 blocks and Brandon Williams had 11 kills (hitting .333) with 7 blocks.

USC outhit the Cardinal, .270 to .145 and had more digs (54 to 32), but Stanford had the edge in blocks (16.0 to 11.5).

In the first game, USC trailed 26-25 before scoring 3 points in a row on a Figueroa kill and a pair of Stanford hitting errors, allowing the Trojans to hold on for the win. Stanford jumped out to an early 8-3 lead in the second game and USC could never come back. The Trojans broke a 13-13 tie in the third game by scoring 3 unanswered points to give them a lead they never relinquished (USC outhit the Cardinal in that game, .300 to .091). Like in the second game, Stanford opened an 8-3 lead in the fourth game and USC never recovered. The final game was over quickly as USC began with a 5-0 lead behind 3 kills by Pavlovich and a pair of Stanford hitting errors, then the Trojans extended the margin to 9-1 before cruising to the victory.

USC next hosts No. 9 Pacific in a rare MPSF Sunday (Feb. 25) match at 1 p.m. in the Galen Center.