Feb. 7, 1997

Unranked Trojans Pull Off Upset Of Top-Ranked Stanford

LOS ANGELES - The unranked USC men's volleyball team, behind Gabe Gardner's 23 kills, pulled off its second major upset in 4 days as it defeated top-ranked Stanford, 5-15, 15-8, 15-8, 15-13, Friday (Feb. 7) in USC's North Gym.

On Tuesday, the Trojans beat No. 2 BYU at home, 10-15, 15-13, 12-15, 15-11, 15-10.

USC is 4-3 overall and 3-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, while Stanford suffered its first loss of the season while falling to 4-1 and 2-1.

"All along, I've said this league is so competitive that the No. 15 team could beat the No. 1 team," said first-year USC coach Pat Powers. "Rankings don't mean anything. I know we've got the personnel. We're getting better, but we're still working on some things. We didn't play well in the first game tonight, then our players got embarrassed and started playing."

Chris Guigliano of USC added 17 kills and teammate Szilard Kovacs had 15 kills and 7 blocks. For Stanford, 1996 Olympian Mike Lambert had a match-high 25 kills along with 7 blocks.

On Saturday (Feb. 8), USC hosts No. 11 Pacific in the Lyon Center at 7 p.m.