LORETTO, Pa. – After taking a 2-0 lead on the road, No. 7 Stanford dropped a 25-15, 25-19, 19-25, 23-25, 11-15 decision at Saint Francis, Wednesday, in DeGol Arena.
Stanford (2-1) edged Saint Francis (1-0) in hitting percentage .298 to .297 and collected more digs (36-29), but could not overcome a surging Red Flash offense in the final three sets.
Junior opposite Jaylen Jasper had a team-high 24 kills on .356 hitting, five digs and three blocks. Senior outside hitter Eric Beatty added 15 kills on .357 hitting, eight digs and five blocks.
Senior setter Paul Bischoff controlled the offense with 47 assists and had five digs, two blocks and an ace. Redshirt freshman Justin Lui tallied a match-high 10 digs.
Saint Francis jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the third set and never looked back, completing the reverse sweep. Fifth-year senior Michael Fisher registered a match-high 29 kills on .537 hitting to lead the Red Flash.
True freshman Will Rottman started for the third consecutive match at outside hitter, posting nine kills, three digs and two blocks. The rookie took the brunt of the Red Flash serves, totaling 46 of the team's 79 reception attempts.
Saint Francis made several lineup changes throughout the course of the match, trying to find the right combination. Freshman Blake Liprando came off the bench to contribute 13 kills on a .375 attack percentage in four sets played.
Stanford hit .500 in the opening set and sided out at a rate of 89 percent in the second set to take a 2-0 lead in the match. The Cardinal was held to a .062 hitting percentage in the final set.
Up next, Stanford heads to the AVCA Showcase where it will face NJIT on Friday and George Mason on Saturday in Fairfax, Virginia.