PALO ALTO, Calif. --- In a battle of defending champions, No. 1 California Baptist University defeated (NCAA Division I) No. 3 Stanford, 3-2 (18-25, 28-26, 30-32, 25-21, 16-14) in an epic five set battle.
The Lancers fell behind 2-1, but came back to take the final two games behind 21 kills from Levi Cabral.
“We faced some adversity tonight and came through it with a big win,” said Head Coach Ryan McGuyre. “I love the way the guys responded in the fifth set. We have yet to lose a game in five this year and I think that says a lot about our team.”
It was the Lancers’ fourth time this season playing a full five sets.
CBU evened the match with an impressive performance in the fourth set, using a match-high 6.5 blocks in the game to earn its most decisive win of the match.
The Lancers came out ready to play in the fifth, taking a quick 4-2 lead. The Cardinal battled back, however, and ended up pulling ahead on a block by Evan Barry and Charley Henrickson, drawing a timeout call from the Lancer bench.
The teams would trade points out of the timeout until CBU was finally able to break the trend and score a pair of consecutive points.
Cabral evened the match at 13-13 by ripping his 20th kill of the match. Cabral then combined on a block with Ricky Brazee to put CBU ahead.
“We knew they were going backside to Spencer McLachlin and were ready for it on that play,” said McGuyre.
With the Lancers holding match point with a 14-13 lead, Stanford called a timeout. The break in action worked and Sebastien Steigmeier served a ball into the net.
CBU countered with Blair Penner setting the ball to Brazee in the middle and the Lancers’ senior middle blocker put it away, to once again put CBU on the precipice of a victory.
This time it was Cabral’s turn and he knew what to do with it from the back row, getting a clean swing to finish the match with a kill.
Cabral hit .300 en route to his 21 kills. Brazee posted nine kills and a .538 hitting percentage and Joseph Fitzpatrick notched six kills while hitting .417.
CBU needed late set heroics in its second game win as well, starting with a big kill by Fitzpatrick that saved the Lancers on set point for Stanford. Cabral again came up big, serving two straight aces to win the set 28-26.
“You always want to be the aggressive team in close matches like that,” said McGuyre. “If you’re tentative you tend to make more mistakes. Levi stayed aggressive tonight for us and that was huge.”
The Lancers out-blocked the Cardinal 15.5-11 and out-hit the home team .269-.238.
In probably the most significant stat of the night, Penner used the five-set match to rack up 59 assists and move to the top of the CBU career assist list at 3,828. Penner passes CBU Assistant Coach Trevor Johnson for tops on the list. The senior from Fresno, Calif. already owns the CBU single-season record with 1,524 assists in 2009.
The win is the Lancers’ second against Stanford in the past three years and avenges a 3-0 defeat the team suffered in Palo Alto last season.
CBU improves its winning streak to 10-straight matches, moving to 19-5 on the season. The defending NCAA champs fall to 14-5.
Stanford is the second highest ranked NCAA Division I opponent CBU has defeated this season. The Lancers defeated preseason-No. 2 UC Irvine in its opening match of the year. That match was also five sets.
Looming next for CBU is a home matchup with (NCAA Division I) No. 7 UC Santa Barbara, Thursday at 7 p.m.
The Lancers fell behind 2-1, but came back to take the final two games behind 21 kills from Levi Cabral.
“We faced some adversity tonight and came through it with a big win,” said Head Coach Ryan McGuyre. “I love the way the guys responded in the fifth set. We have yet to lose a game in five this year and I think that says a lot about our team.”
It was the Lancers’ fourth time this season playing a full five sets.
CBU evened the match with an impressive performance in the fourth set, using a match-high 6.5 blocks in the game to earn its most decisive win of the match.
The Lancers came out ready to play in the fifth, taking a quick 4-2 lead. The Cardinal battled back, however, and ended up pulling ahead on a block by Evan Barry and Charley Henrickson, drawing a timeout call from the Lancer bench.
The teams would trade points out of the timeout until CBU was finally able to break the trend and score a pair of consecutive points.
Cabral evened the match at 13-13 by ripping his 20th kill of the match. Cabral then combined on a block with Ricky Brazee to put CBU ahead.
“We knew they were going backside to Spencer McLachlin and were ready for it on that play,” said McGuyre.
With the Lancers holding match point with a 14-13 lead, Stanford called a timeout. The break in action worked and Sebastien Steigmeier served a ball into the net.
CBU countered with Blair Penner setting the ball to Brazee in the middle and the Lancers’ senior middle blocker put it away, to once again put CBU on the precipice of a victory.
This time it was Cabral’s turn and he knew what to do with it from the back row, getting a clean swing to finish the match with a kill.
Cabral hit .300 en route to his 21 kills. Brazee posted nine kills and a .538 hitting percentage and Joseph Fitzpatrick notched six kills while hitting .417.
CBU needed late set heroics in its second game win as well, starting with a big kill by Fitzpatrick that saved the Lancers on set point for Stanford. Cabral again came up big, serving two straight aces to win the set 28-26.
“You always want to be the aggressive team in close matches like that,” said McGuyre. “If you’re tentative you tend to make more mistakes. Levi stayed aggressive tonight for us and that was huge.”
The Lancers out-blocked the Cardinal 15.5-11 and out-hit the home team .269-.238.
In probably the most significant stat of the night, Penner used the five-set match to rack up 59 assists and move to the top of the CBU career assist list at 3,828. Penner passes CBU Assistant Coach Trevor Johnson for tops on the list. The senior from Fresno, Calif. already owns the CBU single-season record with 1,524 assists in 2009.
The win is the Lancers’ second against Stanford in the past three years and avenges a 3-0 defeat the team suffered in Palo Alto last season.
CBU improves its winning streak to 10-straight matches, moving to 19-5 on the season. The defending NCAA champs fall to 14-5.
Stanford is the second highest ranked NCAA Division I opponent CBU has defeated this season. The Lancers defeated preseason-No. 2 UC Irvine in its opening match of the year. That match was also five sets.
Looming next for CBU is a home matchup with (NCAA Division I) No. 7 UC Santa Barbara, Thursday at 7 p.m.
