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No. 8 Stanford (13-7, 4-3 MPSF) vs. No. 6 Pepperdine (13-5, 4-2 MPSF)
Thursday • 7 p.m. 
Live Stream • Pac-12.com
Live Statistics • GoStanford.com


No. 8 Stanford (13-7) vs. No. 4 UCLA (16-4, 6-0 MPSF)
Saturday • 7:30 p.m.
Television • Pac-12 Networks
Live Statistics • GoStanford.com

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SENIOR NIGHT: Saturday marks the final regular season home match for four Cardinal seniors - Kyle Dagostino, Russell Dervay, Jordan Ewert and Chris Moore. Stanford will recognize the group in a postmatch ceremony following its match vs. UCLA.

IN THE POLL: Stanford remained at No. 8 in this week's AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches' Poll - matching its highest mark of the season. For the 12th consecutive year, the Cardinal was ranked to start the season. Five MPSF squads are ranked in the top 10 of this week's poll.

ABOUT PEPPERDINE: Pepperdine is 13-5 overall and half a game in front of the Cardinal in the MPSF standings at 4-2. The Waves are hitting .322 as a team and lead the conference in kills (13.20), assists (12.38) and digs (9.13). Senior outside hitter David Wieczorek leads the team and is fourth in the MPSF with 3.70 kills per set on .331 hitting. Senior outside hitter Michael Wexter adds 3.54 kills and 1.93 digs per set, while junior Noah Dyer is second in the league with 2.10 digs per set. Pepperdine has won four straight over the Cardinal. Stanford's most recent win came on Jan. 20, 2017 at Pepperdine. The last time the Cardinal beat the Waves on The Farm was March 28, 2014 (3-0).

ABOUT UCLA: UCLA (16-4) is coming off a pair of sweeps over Ohio State and Penn State last week, and has won six straight. The Bruins are undefeated in MPSF play at 6-0 and lead the league as a team in hitting percentage (.338) and service aces (1.82). Junior middle blocker Daenan Gyimah is the only MPSF player hitting over .500 on the season (.527), averaging 2.93 kills per set. Outside hitter Brandon Rattray is fifth in the MPSF with a team-high 3.61 kills per set on .330 hitting. Senior setter Micah Ma'a controls the offense with 10.31 assists per set and leads the league with 0.57 aces per set. The Bruins have won four in a row over the Cardinal, including a five-set victory at Pauley Pavilion earlier this season. Stanford's most recent win was in five sets on Feb. 9, 2017 at Maples Pavilion. 
 


MPSF PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Stanford was four-for-four in the month of January in player of the week recognition from the MPSF, and now has six awards for the season. 

Jan. 7 - Jaylen Jasper (Offensive)
Jan. 14 - Paul Bischoff (Defensive)
Jan. 21 - Jordan Ewert (Offensive)
Jan. 28 - Kyle Dagostino (Defensive)
Feb. 18 - Jaylen Jasper (Offensive); Kyle Dagostino (Defensive)

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Stanford ranks in the top 10 nationally in hitting percentage (4th, .327), assists per set (6th, 12.32) and kills per set (7th, 13.00). Individually, junior Paul Bischoff is fifth nationally in assists per set (10.35), while sophomore Jaylen Jasper is 12th in kills per set (3.73) and 19th in points per set (4.25).

COACHES POLL: Stanford was picked to finish fourth in the MPSF by the league's coaches prior to the start of the 2019 season. UCLA, which received six first-place votes, was selected to win the MPSF, while BYU  collected the remaining first-place vote and was second. Pepperdine came in third.
 


OFF THE BLOCK PRESEASON RECOGNITION: Sophomore Jaylen Jasper landed on the Off The Block/Springbak Preseason All-America second team. Libero Kyle Dagostino received votes, which were collected from coaches around the nation. Additionally, several Cardinal were named to preseason watch lists:

Paul Bischoff, Jr. (Lloy Ball Award - best setter)
Jaylen Jasper, So. (Bryan Ivie Award - best opposite)
Jordan Ewert, Sr. (Karch Kiraly Award - best outside hitter)
Kyler Presho, So. (Ryan Millar Award - best middle blocker)
Kyle Dagostino, RS Sr. (Erik Shoji Award - best libero) 

INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE: Kyle Dagostino represented the U.S. in its seventh-place finish at the Pan American Cup in Mexico over the summer. Jaylen Jasper, Kyler Presho and JP Reilly all competed on the U.S. Junior National Team, which took fourth at the NORCECA U21 Continental Championship in Cuba. Freshman  Justin Lui, who hails from Pickering, Ontario, played for Canada at the U21 Continental Championship.
 


2018 RECAP: Stanford finished the 2018 campaign 6-20 overall and 3-9 in the MPSF. The Cardinal did not have one single match where all 18 players on the roster were available. Stanford made its 10th postseason appearance under head coach John Kosty, who completed his 12th season at the helm of the program. The Cardinal produced four all-conference selections and two AVCA All-Americans.

WHO'S IN?: With injuries and a young roster, Stanford struggled to find a consistent lineup in 2018. The Cardinal utilized 12 different starting lineups during the season. Middle blocker Kyler Presho was the only Cardinal to start all 26 matches at the same position last year. In 2019, the Cardinal has used just three different starting lineups.

NEW-LOOK MPSF: Last season, each MPSF team played 12 conference matches,  featuring a home and away against each opponent. The 2019 MPSF Tournament will begin with seeds two, three and four hosting a quarterfinal match on April 13. The conference semifinals will be played at the No. 1 seed. The MPSF Tournament winner will earn an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

HEAD COACH JOHN KOSTY: Stanford head coach John Kosty is in his 13th season at the helm of the Cardinal program and his 29th overall on staff in 2019. He is now 204-155 in his career and has guided Stanford to the 2010 NCAA national championship and the 2014 NCAA finals. The Cardinal has produced a first team AVCA All-America selection in eight of the past 11 seasons under Kosty. Stanford has appeared in the MPSF Tournament in 10 of Kosty's 12 seasons (missing out in 2007 and 2015).