MALIBU, Calif. – After handily winning the opening set, No. 6 Stanford fell at No. 11 Pepperdine, 25-15, 21-25, 17-25, 18-25, Friday, at Firestone Fieldhouse.
Pepperdine (10-4) picked up its first MPSF win, hitting .392 as a team. The Waves applied pressure from the service line, totaling 10 aces, and out blocked the Cardinal, 9.0 to 2.0. Stanford (7-6, 0-1 MPSF) hit .306 as a team and finished with 41 digs and four aces.
The Cardinal was led by sophomore Ryan DuRoss, who had a team-high 12 kills, three digs and an ace in three sets played. Sophomore Alex Rottman added 10 kills on a .412 attack percentage, six digs, an ace and a career-high five assists.
Setter Nathan Lietzke dished out 39 assists and finished with four kills, nine digs, two aces and two blocks. Libero Luke Turner matched his season-high with a team-best 12 digs.
The Cardinal finished with a sideout rate of just 59 percent for the match. In total, there were 23 tie scores and 10 lead changes between the teams.
Outside hitter Will Rottman made his first appearance for the Cardinal since Jan. 20, coming off the bench in the second and third sets before starting the fourth. He finished with five kills on .333 hitting and two digs.
Opposite Theo Snoey registered nine kills, eight digs and a pair of assists for Stanford. Middle blocker Ethan Hill chipped in with six kills, a dig and a block, while middle blocker Nathaniel Gates had five kills, a block and an assist in three sets played. Adam Chang started the fourth set at middle and put down two kills.
Pepperdine was led by Ryan Barnett and Cole Ketrzynski, who had 12 kills apiece. Barnett hit .667 with his 12 kills coming on 18 errorless swings, while Ketrzynski posted a .478 attack percentage, five digs, three aces and three blocks.
Stanford and Pepperdine meet again on Saturday at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.