Photo of Gabriel Vega by Karen Ambrose Hickey/ISIphotos.com.

STANFORD, Calif. – Gabriel Vega had 16 kills, but couldn't prevent Stanford from a 25-23, 25-19, 20-25, 25-13 men's volleyball loss to Pepperdine at Burnham Pavilion on Saturday.

No. 8 Stanford (11-10 overall) dropped into an eighth-place tie with Pepperdine at 6-8 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Only the top eight teams advance to the conference tournament and play for NCAA qualification. Stanford and Pepperdine (8-9) each have four matches left in the regular season.

The first set was pivotal Saturday. Stanford never trailed until Pepperdine took a 24-23 lead on the way to a 4-0 run to close the set. Vega had five kills in the set, but Stanford hit .000 and was forced to play from behind the rest of the match.

Stanford hit .128 in the match, but other than a .389 hitting percentage in the victorious third set, the Cardinal hit .031.

Paul Bischoff had 35 assists for Stanford and Evan Enriques had 12 digs. In addition, Kevin Rakestraw had 10 kills and four blocks, including one solo.

Stanford has lost five consecutive MPSF matches and six of its past seven after a 5-2 start. But the Cardinal will attempt to reverse its fortunes Friday and Saturday against UC Irvine and UC San Diego, respectively, at Maples Pavilion.