Stanford climbs MPSF with Hawaii boys' help

It's not often a team gets to stay at home for an entire month during the season, but that's exactly what the Stanford men's volleyball team did in March.

The Cardinal took advantage of seven straight home matches in March and have won nine of their last 10 to climb into fifth place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings.

The fifth-ranked Cardinal (17-6, 10-6) won their sixth straight conference match by beating Pacific 30-22, 30-23, 30-18 on Tuesday at Maples Pavilion.

Freshman Brad Lawson ('Iolani '08) had 11 kills and five digs and libero Erik Shoji (Punahou '08), who leads the nation in digs, had 11 for the match.

Sophomore Spencer McLachlin (Punahou '07) led the Cardinal with 12 kills and junior setter Kawika Shoji ('Iolani '06) had 39 assists.

The Cardinal have six matches left to try to climb into the top four and earn a home match in the first round of the MPSF tournament. They travel to Long Beach State today and UC San Diego tomorrow before wrapping up the regular season at home with two matches against BYU, one against UC Irvine and one against UCLA.

“;We feel like we're hitting our stride right now,”; Erik Shoji said in a news release after Tuesday's win. “;We feel like we can possibly win out and also keep improving.”;

“;Our motivation is to continue to win and with that comes a top-four seed,”; added Lawson. “;Those are definitely the two big goals for us.”;

Men's Golf

Pacific (Ore.) sophomore Max Bonk (Hawaii Prep '07) won his fifth tournament of the season Tuesday, leading the Boxers to a win in the Northwest Conference Spring Classic at University Place, Wash. Bonk destroyed the course with a 6-under 65 on Monday, but heavy winds forced him into a final-round 82 that was still good enough to win the tournament by three shots.

Women's Golf

» Arizona senior Amanda Wilson (Waiakea '05) shot a final-round 4-over 76 to finish tied for ninth place in the Mountain View Collegiate on Sunday in Tucson, Ariz. Wilson finished the tournament at 1-over 217 after shooting 71 and 70 in the first two rounds. Boise State's Iris Ocariza (Moanalua '06) finished in a tie for 50th place with a 13-over 229 and Oregon State freshman Elyse Okada (Maui '08) finished tied for 88th at 25-over 241. Colorado's Christine Kim (Waiakea '06) finished at 34-over 250.

» Willamette (Ore.) senior Whitney Ueno (Hilo '05) rallied from a one-shot deficit entering the final round of the Northwest Conference Spring Classic to win by five strokes Tuesday in Tacoma, Wash. Ueno shot an 87 in windy conditions in the final round to finish the 36-hole event at 171.

» Pacific (Ore.) sophomore Valerie Kitamori (Waiakea '07) finished in a tie for fifth place as the Boxers finished fifth in the Northwest Conference Spring Classic. Jasmine Ching (Waiakea '06) finished 13th with a 190 and sophomore Tami Park (Waiakea '07) finished 26th at 200.

» San Diego State sophomore Kaitlen Miyajima (Baldwin '07) finished seventh among 11 teammates with a two-day score of 26-over 170 as the Aztecs beat Cal State Bakersfield by nine strokes Tuesday in Seaside, Calif.

Tennis

» DePauw (Ind.) sophomore Janelle Arita (Punahou '07) won her singles and doubles matches to lead the 16th-ranked Tigers to a 5-4 win over No. 14 Redlands (Calif.) at the Fab Five Tournament in Atlanta. Arita and teammate Kelly Gabert defeated Sara Yoshinaga ('Iolani '07) and Kaleena Wakamatsu (Maui '05) 8-5 in doubles. Wakamatsu also lost her No. 5 singles match, while Yoshinaga won at the No. 4 position. Redlands junior Paige Sumida (Waiakea '06) won in No. 2 singles and lost in No. 1 doubles.

Women's Water Polo

» Occidental (Calif.) sophomore Karie Nickle (Kamehameha '07) and senior Haley Rosehill (Kamehameha '05) scored two goals apiece as the Tigers rolled past Cal Tech 19-1 on Wednesday. Nickle also had four steals to lead Occidental (11-8).