Well, that was one short-lived run at the top for Stanford. After a very impressive 40-day road trip, they returned home to Palo Alto only to have their eight-match win-streak snapped by USC. The Trojans out-blocked Stanford 15.5 to 6.0 and outside hitter Tony Ciarelli hit .451 on 28 kills to lead USC to the win in five sets. The fifth set ended with a score of 15-13.
Stanford falls one spot on this week's AVCA Poll to No. 2 and they are replaced in the No. 1 spot by UCLA. All the Bruins had to do was manage not to lose to Cal Baptist. Which they did, beating them easily in three.
UCI is up one spot to No. 3 after beating both CSUN and Long Beach State in three sets each. BYU fell two spots to No. 5 after splitting two matches with UCSB. The Cougars lost in five sets on the second night.
This week, keep and eye out for the Stanford-UCI and UCLA-Long Beach State grudge matches along with a few other good ones we can look forward to.
Here are your matches to watch:
Wednesday, February 29th
No. 8 Long Beach State @ No. 1 UCLA
No 11 UCSB @ No. 14CSUN
Friday, March 2nd
No. 1 UCLA @ No. 14 CSUN
No 13 Hawaii @ No. 4 USC
No. 10 Pepperdine @ No. 5 BYU
No. 8 Long Beach State @ No. 11 UCSB
Saturday, March 3rd
No. 3 UCI @ No. 2 Stanford
No. 10 Pepperdine @ No. 5 BYU
No. 9 Ohio State @ No. 6 Penn State
Sunday, March 4th
No. 13 Hawaii @ No. 4 USC
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