LOS ANGELES – Moses Wagner had a team-high 14 kills, but No. 14 Stanford fell in straight sets at No. 4 USC, 14-25, 21-25, 22-25, Friday, at the Galen Center.
Stanford (9-11, 6-3 MPSF) was held to .178 hitting as a team, while USC (15-3, 7-2 MPSF) posted a .388 clip, including a blistering .722 (13-0-18) in the opening frame.
Wagner’s 14 kills came on .346 hitting. The opposite also tallied three blocks and a dig. Outside hitter Alex Rottman added seven kills on a .333 attack percentage, four blocks, three digs and an assist.
Freshman Jacob Little-Phillips started the match at setter, totaling 13 assists, a kill and an ace in two sets played. Senior Theoren Brouillette took over in the third, finishing with 12 assists, two digs and a block.
Sophomore libero Evan Porter collected a match-high 10 digs – his sixth time in double-figures this season.
Outside hitter Nate Clinton totaled two kills, four digs and an ace in the first two sets. He was replaced by sophomore David Wolff in the third, who tallied two kills, two digs and a block.
Middle blocker Luke McFall finished with two kills, four blocks and an ace, while sophomore Kaumana Carreira chipped in with four blocks.
USC was led by outside hitter Dillon Klein who turned in a match-high 15 kills on .478 hitting, three aces, four digs and a block. Cooper Keane was also in double-figures with 13 kills on a .429 attack percentage, three digs and two aces.
Stanford and USC meet again on Saturday at 5 p.m. in the Galen Center.