STANFORD, Calif. -- After taking a 2-0 lead against No. 10 Hawaii, the sixth-ranked Stanford men’s volleyball team had to rally to defeat the Rainbow Warriors (25-23, 25-13, 17-25, 21-25, 15-7), Saturday at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif.
The Cardinal (14-7, 11-7 MPSF), which won its first five-set match of the season, is on a five-match winning streak. The Rainbow Warriors fall to 11-10 overall and 9-9 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
“Hawaii is probably one of the best serving teams in our conference, they bring a lot of service pressure,” senior outside hitter Brian Cook said. “We were able to serve and pass and hang with them, and that is really what won this game. We didn’t pass perfectly, which the numbers in the middle sets probably reflect, but we passed well enough to get the job done.”
With Hawaii having the momentum after winning the third and fourth sets, Stanford had to regroup going into the fifth. It marked the sixth fifth-set match of the season for the Cardinal, which had previously been 0-5.
“It is time to win a fifth set. That was the message we had for each other,” Cook said.
Cook led the Cardinal with 21 kills and 10 digs, while hitting .444. Senior outside hitter Steven Irvin added 19 kills on a .441 attack percentage to go with seven digs and four blocks. Senior opposite Eric Mochalski finished with 12 kills and five digs.
Sophomore setter James Shaw directed the Stanford offense with 46 assists, while posting nine digs and three kills. Redshirt junior libero Grant Delgado tallied nine digs, while junior Spencer Haly had a team-best five blocks.
As a team, Stanford outhit Hawaii .325 to .281 and held a 4-3 edge in the aces column. The Rainbow Warriors totaled 12 blocks in the loss.
Hawaii was again led by outside hitter Brook Sedore, who registered a match-high 25 kills, five digs and two blocks. Sinisa Zarkovic added 12 kills, while setter Joby Ramos finished with 52 assists, eight digs and five blocks.
