STANFORD, Calif. – Reed Wainwright registered an ace on match point to propel No. 14 Stanford past No. 17 UC Santa Barbara, 22-25, 25-22, 18-25, 25-21, 17-15, Thursday, at Maples Pavilion.
Stanford (1-3) hit .264 as a team in its first win of 2026, while UC Santa Barbara (4-1) was held to a .217 clip in its first loss of the season. The Cardinal finished with 12.5 blocks, 54 digs and two aces.
Opposite Moses Wagner led Stanford with a season-high 21 kills on .304 hitting, 10 digs and four blocks for his first double-double of the year. Outside hitter Theo Snoey added 14 kills, eight digs, two assists and two blocks.
It was a back-and-forth battle all night, yielding 41 tie scores and 12 lead changes for the match. The Cardinal saved its best for last, hitting .500 as a team in the fifth and siding out at 80 percent.
Freshman Jacob Little-Phillips earned his second straight start at setter. The Winter Park, Florida, native controlled the offense with 48 assists to go with six digs, four blocks, two kills and an ace.
Sophomores Kai Schmitt and Evan Porter both played libero for the Cardinal, sharing duties in the final three frames. Schmitt started the match and finished with a career-high 12 digs, while Porter chipped in with three digs and two assists.
Santa Barbara native Alex Rottman started the match at outside hitter and totaled two kills, seven digs, two assists and three blocks in three sets. Freshman Erik Ask finished out the match, recording four kills and two digs.
Sophomore middle blocker Kaumana Carreira hit .500 with eight kills on 16 errorless swings and notched five blocks and four digs. Senior Luke McFall also started at middle, posting five kills and three blocks in three sets played. Wainwright replaced McFall to start the fourth set, finishing with two kills and four blocks.
UCSB was led by outside hitter Riggs Guy, who tallied 15 kills, nine digs and five assists. Setter Cole Schobel finished one kill shy of a triple-double with nine kills, 43 assists and a match-high 15 digs.
Stanford and UCSB meet again on Friday at 6 p.m. in Maples Pavilion.