MEN’S VOLLEYBALL : Stanford Rolls Past Waves

The third-ranked Pepperdine men’s volleyball team was overwhelmed by second-ranked Stanford on Saturday.

With emotions running high, the Waves lost to the Cardinal, 15-13, 15-2, 15-13, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match before 2,400 at Pepperdine.

It was the final home match for Pepperdine’s seniors and the loss broke a 13-match home win streak for the Waves.

In addition, it was a rematch of the 1992 NCAA championship, which Pepperdine won.

The Waves defeated Stanford in four games earlier this season at Pepperdine, but this time, the Waves never took more than a three-point lead in any game in the match.

“I think that Pepperdine was playing with a lot of emotion,” said Dave Goss, a Cardinal outside hitter. “This is their season farewell at home for their seniors and I think that it may have caused them to stumble a little bit.”

Goss led Stanford with 31 kills in 44 attempts, including two errors, hitting .659. He also had 10 digs.

Tom Sorensen, a senior opposite hitter who is Pepperdine’s all-time leader in kills with 2,067 in his career, said the Waves’ emotion was not the problem.

“They just beat us at our own game. Our ball control was not that outstanding,” Sorensen said.

The Waves hit .356 to Stanford’s .556.

Sorensen led the Waves with 20 kills in 45 attempts, including seven errors, hitting .289.

Pepperdine (15-4, 12-4 in federation) trailed by as many as five points during the first game, but got close enough to tie the score three times. The Waves finally broke out of an 11-11 tie and took a two-point lead on two Stanford hitting errors.

But the Cardinal scored the final four points of the first game on two kills apiece by Goss and Bob Hillman.

“I think during the second game that we thought a little too much about the first game, and they just took it to us and beat us,” said Sorensen.

Trailing, 14-11, in the third game, Pepperdine’s Duane Cameron had two kills to help the Waves close to within one point, but Goss capped the match with a kill.

Stanford (15-3, 13-2) was playing with a vengeance; losing the 1992 NCAA championship was still fresh in mind.

“When you work so hard in getting to the (NCAA) championship match and lose, you never, ever forget that,” said Stanford Coach Ruben Nieves.