MALIBU, Calif. – Sophomore Will Rottman registered a team-high 11 kills, but Stanford dropped a 25-15, 25-21, 25-21 decision to No. 3 Pepperdine, Wednesday, at Firestone Fieldhouse.
Pepperdine (7-2) hit .304 as a team, while holding the Cardinal (0-2) to a .139 clip. Stanford held a 6.5-5.0 edge in blocks, while the Waves led 21-16 in the digs column.
Rottman, a Santa Barbara native, hit .333 (11-4-21) and tallied two digs and two blocks for the Cardinal. Freshman opposite Kupono Browne added nine kills, four digs and two blocks. Senior middle blocker Kyler Presho hit .300 with five kills and a pair of blocks.
Sophomore setter Nathan Lietzke controlled the offense with 29 assists, while redshirt sophomore libero Justin Lui finished with a match-high six digs.
The Cardinal started freshman Luke Turner at outside hitter and redshirt freshman Ethan Hill at middle blocker, but switched up its lineup throughout the match. Sophomore outside hitter Kevin Lamp came off the bench and had two kills, a dig and a solo block in three sets played.
Pepperdine was led by sophomore opposite Jacob Steele's match-high 12 kills on .381 hitting.
Stanford remains in southern California this weekend to take on No. 9 UCLA on Friday at 5 p.m. and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion.