STANFORD, Calif. – Playing for the first time in 13 days, No. 9 Stanford fell to No. 2 UC Irvine, 25-19, 25-20, 25-23, Friday, in Burnham Pavilion.
Stanford (3-2) was held to .205 hitting and struggled on serve receive as UC Irvine (6-0) racked up nine aces.
Opposite Moses Wagner led the team with 13 kills on a .292 attack percentage to go with five digs, four blocks and an ace. Outside hitter Theo Snoey added 11 kills and four digs.
Setter Theoren Brouillette controlled the offense with 30 assists and tallied three digs, two kills and an ace. Freshman libero Evan Porter finished with five digs and two assists, while Kai Schmitt notched two digs off the bench.
Sophomore outside hitter Nate Clinton finished with five kills, five digs and a block. Middle blocker Gray Mandelbaum chipped in with three kills and two blocks, while freshman Kaumana Carreira had two blocks in two sets played.
Freshmen Reed Wainwright and David Wolff made their collegiate debuts on Friday. Wainwright had a blocks in two sets played, replacing Carreira in the second.
UC Irvine was led by Hillir Henno’s 15 kills on .500 hitting and two aces. Nolan Flexen turned in 13 kills and two aces, while Micah Goss put down a match-high four aces.
Stanford and UC Irvine square off again on Saturday at 6 p.m. in Maples Pavilion.