COSTA MESA -- The first of two men's volleyball matches between Stanford and Vanguard favored the Lions only in the first set, as VU surprised the Cardinal 25-22.  Stanford recovered, however, and went on to win the next three sets 25-21, 25-17, and 25-17.  VU dropped to 3-5 and Stanford improved to 5-5 heading into Saturday's 3:00 p.m. rematch.
 
The Lions received a balanced attack from Grant Dvorak, Logan Freemon, and Micah Sybesma, with Dvorak pacing all players with 17 kills.  Sybesma went error-free on 17 swings with 12 kills to tally a .706 hitting percentage for the night.  Freemon was tied for second among all players with 14 kills and tied for a match-high 30 attempts.
 
What Happened?  The Blue and Gold were untouchable over the first five rallies of the match, with Freemon pounding down the first kill and Nick Dvorak sliding in back-to-back aces to go up 3-0.  Grant Dvorak then lashed out with two straight kills to put the home side up 5-0, though the Cardinal got the next four points as Stanford stepped out of its early slumber.  The sides tied the score five times over the middle stages but Stanford saw its only two leads of the first period (11-10 and 12-11) fall to the wayside as the Lions leveled up.  Strikes from Sybesma put VU up 16-14 and the squad had a rebutal for each Stanford point.  A 3-0 burst from VU, with all three points coming off the thundering arm of Grant Dvorak, pushed the edge to 23-19 and a Sybesma kill shot gave Vanguard set one 25-22.  The Lions hit a team-high .450 rate in the first with 21 kills and three errors on 40 swings.  Stanford hit a team-low .233 and lost its first set to VU, as the Cardinal had swept VU in Stanford in 2022.
 
Set 2  The Cardinal would lead from start to finish but the Lions remained feisty throughout the frame.  Phinehas Wiley and Sybesma landed kills early in the frame to get the gap to one point and Freemon speared another to make the score 6-5 Stanford.  Unfortunately, five unanswered points by the Cardinal pushed the visitor's edge to 12-7 and the Lions could not get within easy striking distance until late in the set.  A Stanford service error and kills by Grant Dvorak and Sybesma closed the score to 23-21, but a pair of Cardinal kills gave Stanford set two 25-21.  The Lions hit .321 in the second and Stanford improved to a .348 rate.
 
Set 3  The #10 team in the most recent American Volleyball Coaches Association poll emerged in sets three and four, as the Cardinal hit .600 in the third (a match-high) and .500 in the fourth.  Vanguard did well to stay close early in set three, with Stanford committing a few service errors and Sybesma collecting an ace to tie the score at six-all.  A 4-0 run for Stanford put things mostly out of reach, and though VU closed the gap to 13-11 off a Grant Dvorak kill, Stanford finished out the period on a 12-5 stretch to take the set 25-17.  The Lions hit a match-low .130 in the third.
 
Set 4  The fourth opened with a Stanford statement, as the Cardinal rolled out a 10-3 stretch to pile the weight on the VU shoulders.  Grant Dvorak and Freemon were able to land kills and Wiley pounced for a brace to slice the lead to 16-10, but Stanford had an answer for every point to close out the set 25-17.  VU posted a .304 attack percentage in the fourth, with 11 kills and four errors on 23 attempts.
 
Vanguard hit .325 as a team in the match while Stanford reached a .404 rate.   The Lions had more kills than Stanford (54-49), assists (49-41), and total blocks (9-7), but the Cardinal had more digs (31-30) and aces (8-4).  Brock Henderson led all players with 38 helpers and Nick Dvorak's two aces paced VU.  Wiley had a team-high seven digs, with Henderson next with six.