MALIBU, Calif. – The 10th-ranked Stanford men’s volleyball team topped No. 4 Pepperdine, 25-21, 15-25, 28-26, 25-21, Friday, at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif. With the win, the Cardinal moves to 11-7 overall and 8-7 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, while the Waves fall to 9-5 overall and in the conference.
“We attacked well tonight,” said head coach John Kosty after the match. “That was two solid teams battling it out on the court. We made some nice plays in clutch situations to get the win.”
Stanford was able to notch the win on the road by hitting .377 as a team and posting a sideout percentage of 75 for the match. Pepperdine also hit well offensively (.374) and edged the Cardinal in the block column (9.0 to 8.5).
Senior outside hitter Steven Irvin paced the team with 17 kills on a .483 attack percentage, while also tallying five digs and three blocks. Senior Brian Cook added 16 kills and eight digs. Senior opposite Eric Mochalski also registered double-digit kills, finishing with 13.
Sophomore setter James Shaw guided the offense, posting 56 assists to go with five kills and five digs. Stanford middles Denny Falls and Conrad Kaminski chipped in with seven and six kills, respectively. Redshirt junior libero Grant Delgado collected a team-best 10 digs.
Stanford came out fired up, hitting .615 in the opening set by putting down 19 kills. The Cardinal again recorded 19 kills in the fourth set and redshirt junior Scott Sakaida came off the bench to serve the final four points to finish off the Waves. Stanford’s 64 kills tied for the second-most in a match this season.
Pepperdine was led by Parker Kalmbach’s 17 kills and six digs. Josh Taylor and Kyle Gerrans added 13 kills apiece for the Waves.
Stanford wraps up the weekend on Sunday, March 9 at No. 6 USC. The Cardinal and Trojans will square off at 5 p.m. PT at the Galen Center on the Pac-12 Networks.