Report by LBSU
Long Beach State got a little too much of Even Romero and Brad Lawson Saturday night. The Stanford duo each had 18 kills in leading the No. 1 Cardinal to a 30-28, 30-22, 30-21 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation win at the Walter Pyramid.
Lawson hit .484 on 31 swings, while Romero hit .438 on 32 swings to pace the Cardinal (15-4, 12-4 MPSF) to the win behind a team hitting percentage of .422. Stanford also had seven team blocks. Dean Bittner led the 49ers (12-11, 8-8 MPSF) with 15 kills while hitting .270. Antwain Aguillard had eight kills and a .700 hitting percentage on just 10 swings for The Beach, which hit .183 as a team.
Game one was competitive with Long Beach State leading by as many as three and Stanford pushing its lead to as much as three as well. The Beach took an early 10-7 lead, but the Cardinal responded with five straight points and eight of the next 10 points to take a 15-12 lead. The 49ers rallied with four straight points to regain the lead at 16-15. Stanford regained the lead at 20-19 and again at 21-20 before LBSU tied it at 25.
The 49ers took their final lead at 27-26 on an attack error by the Cardinal’s Spencer McLachlin, but Stanford scored three straight points and four of the next five to take a one game to zero lead.
Romero paced the Cardinal with eight kills and a .538 hitting percentage on 13 swings in the game, while Lawson had five kills as Stanford hit .342 in the game. Bittner led the 49ers with six kills and a .500 hitting percentage on 12 swings, while Tommy Pestolesi had three kills on four swings for The Beach which stayed close despite hitting just .162.
As close as game one was, game two was just the opposite. The number-one ranked Cardinal took early control and dominated the game. Stanford built a 10-9 lead into a 17-10 lead by scoring four straight points and seven of eight. The Cardinal pushed the led to as many as 10 before LBSU cut the lead to 27-21 forcing a Stanford timeout. Stanford regained its composure and closed out the 49ers with three of the final four points.
The Beach struggled on the attack again finishing with a .062 hitting percentage. Aguillard was the one positive in the game with five kills and a .667 hitting percentage on six swings. Bittner had four kills but also had four errors on 12 swings. Romero and Lawson paced Stanford with five kills each, while McLachlin added four kills as the Cardinal hit .412 and had four team blocks.
Stanford took early control of the final game building a 12-6 lead. The 49ers could never get closer than four before dropping the match. Josh Riley came off the bench to have a team-high six kills on seven swings (.857 hitting percentage) in the game. Bittner had five kills on 13 swings. Lawson led Stanford in the decider with 8 kills and a .636 hitting percentage. The 49ers hit .300 in the game, but couldn’t match the Cardinal’s .536.