Feb. 8, 2004
MALIBU, Calif. - The Stanford Univeristy men's volleyball team fell to Pepperdine, 3-0 in Malibu at Firestone Fieldhouse Saturday night. Game scores for the match were 27-30, 21-30 and 27-30. With the loss, the Cardinal fall to 5-7 on the year and 3-5 in MPSF play. Pepperdine improves to 7-2 overall and 3-2 in conference play.
The Cardinal, looking to bounce back from Thursday's disappointing loss at USC, battled the Waves in the first game and took a 16-12 lead in the first game thanks to a kill from junior middle blocker Craig Buell. Peppperdine rolled off four straight points to knot the score at 16-16 on a kill from Tanner Sutherland. The two teams traded points until the Cardinal were able to open a slim 24-21 advantage on a kill from sophomore outside hitter Ben Reddy. The Waves responded with a 9-3 run to close out the game and take a one game advantage.
The Waves raced out to a 10-6 lead in the second game, but the Cardinal rallied and were able to tie the score at 13-13 on a kill from Buell. A few plays later, a Reddy kill brought the score to 15-15. From then on, it was all Waves as Pepperdine used a 15-6 run en route to the 30-21 victory.
Game three was close throughout as a Stanford grabbed a slim 11-10 edge after a kill by Reddy. A few plays later, redshirt junior Kevin Hansen registered a kill to push the score to 16-15 in favor of the Cardinal. The two teams battled back and forth, with the score being tied four times before resting at 27-27 on a Pepperdine setting error. But it was the Waves' night as Pepperdine recorded the next three points to end the game and solidify the win.
The Cardinal were led by Reddy who registered 15 kills, while redshirt junior Pat Bomhack added 12 kills. Hansen ended the night with team-highs of 37 assists and 11 kills.
Stanford returns to The Farm looking to snap a two-game losing skid when it hosts Hawaii on February 13th and 14th. Both games will be played in Maples Pavilion with a 7;00 pm (PT) start time.