PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Arizona volleyball gave second-ranked Stanford all it could handle in a four-set loss (17-25, 27-25, 20-25, 21-25) in Maples Pavilion on Sunday afternoon.
 
The Wildcats (12-2, 1-1 Pac-12) became the first unranked team to take a set off of Stanford (10-1, 2-0 Pac-12) since Nov. 11, 2017 (Washington State) with a 27-25 victory in the second set. UA hung tough in both the third and fourth sets, but the Cardinal broke away late to win both sets and the match.
 
"There are no moral victories," said head coach Dave Rubio. "But I thought we played ok. The separator today was serving and passing. We just could not side out enough, which was frustrating."
 
The Wildcats had 14 service errors in the match, tying a season high.
 
Arizona had 12 blocks in the match, marking the fourth straight match with double-digit blocks for the Wildcats. They held the Pac-12's leader in hitting percentage (.314 entering the day) to a .246 hitting percentage in the match. Devyn Cross and Katie Smoot led the Wildcats with seven blocks apiece; Smoot's seven stuffs were the most of her career. Cross added eight kills on just 18 swings.
 
Kendra Dahlke had 15 kills to lead the Wildcats. The senior had seven digs, a block and an ace in the match. Paige Whipple also had double-digit kills for the seventh consecutive outing; the sophomore finished with 10 in the match. 
 
Julia Patterson had her usual stat-stuffing effort; the junior posted 37 assists, nine digs, two blocks, two kills and an ace in the match.
 
In the first, Arizona had seven attack errors and six serve errors and Stanford took the opener, 25-17.
 
Arizona held Stanford to an -.028 hitting percentage in the second set, using five blocks to keep the Stanford offense at bay and took the second set 27-25, becoming the first unranked team to take a set from Stanford since Nov. 11, 2017 (Washington State). Arizona led the second set, 23-18 and then 24-20, but Stanford fought off four straight set points before the Wildcats closed out the frame with the final two points, 27-25.
 
Stanford bounced back, hitting .297 in the third set, and winning the third, 25-20, to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
The Cats hung tough in the fourth set, but fell, 25-21 to lose the match.

Social Corner
Arizona defended Stanford's high-powered offense well. Below is one of Arizona's 12 #ArizonaRoofs.

21 ?? | ?? 17
      0      1

DE-FENSE!

Kendra with a great dig and Katie and Devyn with an #ArizonaRoof! Timeout Stanford! pic.twitter.com/Bn55BQSXSZ

— Arizona Volleyball (@ArizonaVBall) September 23, 2018

 
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Up Next
Arizona is back on the road next week when it takes on Oregon (Sept. 28) and Oregon State (Sept. 30) in a pair of matches on the Pac-12 Networks.