MALIBU, Calif. – No. 9 Stanford dropped its fourth straight match, falling at No. 5 Pepperdine, 25-21, 25-22, 25-21, Friday, at Firestone Fieldhouse.
The Cardinal (7-5, 0-2 MPSF) was held to a .284 attack percentage and struggled with Pepperdine's serve. The Waves (8-2, 2-0 MPSF) hit .370 as a team and tallied eight aces. Both teams notched 22 digs and 5.0 blocks.
Stanford utilized its third different starting lineup of the season. Sophomore Jaylen Jasper moved to the left pin and junior Eli Wopat started at opposite. Junior Eric Beatty missed his sixth straight match due to injury.
Senior outside hitter Jordan Ewert led the Cardinal with 11 kills on .296 hitting and four digs. Jasper added eight kills, but hit just .190 and had three blocks and two digs. Wopat had four kills and both of Stanford's service aces.
The Cardinal struggled to side out all night long, posting a hit of 66 percent in the second set.
Setter Paul Bischoff controlled the offense with 29 assists, while redshirt senior libero Kyle Dagostino anchored the defense with a team-high seven digs.
Junior middle blocker Stephen Moye hit .833 with five kills on six errorless swings to go with five blocks. Sophomore middle blocker Kyler Presho had six kills on a .625 attack percentage.
Sophomore Leo Henken, who had started the previous five matches at outside hitter, appeared in two sets, but managed just one kill, one digs and a block.
Pepperdine was led by senior outside hitter David Wieczorek's 14 kills on .737 hitting. Michael Wexter added 12 kills on .304 hitting, while Kaleb Denmark was also in double figures with 10 kills.
Stanford returns to The Farm next week to play host to No. 14 USC on Thursday in Maples Pavilion and Concordia on Saturday in Burnham Pavilion.
