STANFORD, Calif. – No. 13 Stanford fell in its season opener to No. 5 Ball State, 25-22 26-24, 25-16, Friday, in Burnham Pavilion.
Ball State (3-0) hit .411 while holding Stanford (0-1) to a .258 clip. The Cardinal finished with 42 kills, 34 digs, five aces and a block.
Junior opposite Moses Wagner led the team with 14 kills on .345 hitting and three digs. Outside hitter Theo Snoey added 11 kills, seven digs and two assists.
Setter Theoren Brouillette controlled the offense with 37 assists to go with five digs, a kill, a block and an ace. Freshman libero Evan Porter made his collegiate debut with nine digs and an assists.
Also making their collegiate debuts were sophomores Nate Clinton and Gray Mandelbaum, and freshmen Kaumana Carreira and Kai Schmitt.
Clinton hit .385 with eight kills, eight digs and an ace, while Mandelbaum registered four kills on .429 hitting. Carreira had four kills on a .571 attack percentage, a block and an ace. Schmitt came off the bench as a serving sub and tallied two aces.
Ball State was led by Raje Alleyne’s match-best 15 kills on .483 hitting, while Patrick Rogers chipped in with 11 kills on a .409 attack percentage and five digs.
Stanford and Ball State meet again on Saturday at 6 p.m. in Burnham Pavilion.