Lambert leads Stanford
into MPSF finals
His 25 kills put the No. 3 Cardinal
By Cindy Luis
in line to play No. 1 UCLA
and into the final four
Star-BulletinLOS ANGELES -- The monkey is off Mike Lambert's back. Now he takes on the gorilla. Lambert had a match-high 25 kills to lead No. 3 Stanford to a 16-14, 16-14, 17-15 win over fourth-ranked Brigham Young in last night's first semifinal of the PowerBar Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament. The victory lifts the Cardinal (24-3) into tomorrow's 4:30 p.m. championship against top-rated UCLA, a 15-7, 15-11, 15-6 winner over No. 5 UC Santa Barbara last night at Pauley Pavilion.
"BYU was such a monkey for me, my career record is something like 1-5 against them," said Lambert, Stanford's senior captain. "It seems like every time we played them, things would be going our way then they'd somehow pull it out."
Stanford setter Stewart Chong, who leads the country in assists and was the smallest player on the court at 5-foot-10, blocked BYU's 6-1 Richard Lambourne to tie Game 3 at 15-all.
Lambert then blocked Ryan Millar, the MPSF Player of the Year, for match point and, one sideout later, Keenan Whitehurst put down his 13th kill to complete the Cardinal's unexpected sweep of the Cougars (20-6).
Tomorrow's battle will determine which team will go to next week's national tournament in Columbus, Ohio, as the top seed and which will go as the at-large team. Unlike last season when top-ranked Hawaii earned the at-large berth despite losing in the MPSF semifinals, there are no other teams for the NCAA selection committee to discuss beyond UCLA and Stanford for the at-large spot.
"You would have to think this locks the two of us into the final four," said UCLA coach Al Scates, who is looking for his third consecutive national championship. "The East already has their highest seed in in Penn State. The Midwest has their highest seed in in Ball State.
"We're No. 1 and Stanford's No. 3. I'm thinking whoever wins Saturday is the top seed and plays Ball State, and the loser gets Penn State."
The Bruins would like to see the Nittany Lions -- in the final. Penn State handed UCLA a 3-1 loss in the Outrigger Hotels Invitational at the Special Events Arena last January, the first time ever the Bruins had lost a season opener.
But first, UCLA has to concentrate on Stanford, a team that has won 14 straight since losing to the Bruins on March 7 here. UCLA expects a tougher time with the Cardinal than it had with the Gauchos last night.
UCSB, which defeated UCLA at the Wooden Center in five in January, was out of sync all night. It began when Gaucho junior hitter Mitch McCoy, the team's main passer, sprained an ankle during warmups when he tripped over a Bruin substitute.
McCoy lasted a few rotations in Game 1 but was taken out, forcing all-conference hitter Donny Harris to take over as UCSB's main passer. The added burden affected the rest of Harris' offense. He had 10 kills with 11 errors in 33 swings to hit a negative .030.
The Gauchos threatened briefly in Game 2, closing to 12-11 on one of Robert Treahy's team-high 18 kills. But UCLA scored three straight points to set up the sweep.
"I'm just so happy that I'll never have to face Santa Barbara again," said senior hitter Paul Nihipali, after putting down a match-high 23 kills. "They're such a tough team and I never felt we had the game until the end."
Helping UCLA's cause was sophomore hitter Fred Robins, who had 10 kills and 4 block assists in a steady defensive game.
"I'm surprised the way the match went," said Robins. "Both times this year, it was a war with (UCSB) going five. They always play tough against us and it's a war."
