STANFORD, Calif. – Behind a solid defensive effort, the sixth-ranked Stanford men’s volleyball team swept No. 3 Pepperdine, 25-21, 25-18, 25-19, Friday, at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif. The Cardinal improves to 16-7 overall and 13-7 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The Waves fall to 14-6 on the year and 14-6 in conference.
Stanford, which went undefeated in the month of March (7-0), has swept the season series against both Pepperdine and USC for the first time since 1996.
“We consider our team to have one of the best offenses in the country,” said redshirt junior libero Grant Delgado after the match. “The best way to facilitate that is to put up perfect passes for James to put out to whoever he wants to. Our confidence lately stems from knowing we can pass the ball perfectly to the net and get our offense going.
“A big part of passing too is communication, and Steven [Irvin] talked about it during the middle of the match. We were doing it well tonight and that was crucial.”
Stanford registered 33 digs, led by Delgado’s 10, and 7.5 team blocks, while hitting .453. Pepperdine was limited to 20 digs, 6.5 blocks and a .256 attack percentage.
Senior outside hitter Brian Cook led all players with 17 kills, hitting .481, and five digs. Senior opposite Eric Mochalski added 11 kills on a .450 hitting percentage to go with six digs and three service aces. Senior outside hitter Steven Irvin recorded 11 kills, seven digs and three blocks.
Sophomore setter James Shaw collected 45 assists, his most in a three-set match this season. Sophomore middle Conrad Kaminski was 6-0-8 (.750), while junior middle Spencer Haly totaled three kills and three blocks.
“One of our goals in matches is to keep the other team’s best players under their season averages,” added Delgado. “We did a good job of focusing on the right things and reading well on what their hitters were going to do. Our block took away a significant area for them, which helped out the back row.”
Pepperdine was led by junior outside hitter Josh Taylor’s 12 kills, while senior outside hitter Kyle Gerrans finished with 11 kills on a .435 attack percentage. Junior setter Matt West had 27 assists and six digs. Taylor entered the match averaging 4.16 kills per set, while West averaged 11.35 assists per set.
Stanford closes out its home schedule next week, hosting Pacific on Thursday, April 3 and Cal Baptist on Friday, April 4. Both matches are scheduled for 7 p.m. PT in Maples Pavilion.