It’s Payback Time for Pepperdine

Pepperdine eliminated defending national champion Stanford from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s volleyball playoffs, avenging its elimination by the Cardinal last season.

The third-ranked Waves beat the Cardinal, 12-15, 15-6, 15-3, 15-5, in the first round of the MPSF tournament Saturday night at Firestone Fieldhouse.

George Roumain had 26 kills and Chris Jacobson had nine total blocks for the Waves (20-4), who play the winner of the UC Santa Barbara-Hawaii match in an MPSF semifinal Thursday at UCLA.

The Cardinal defeated Pepperdine in the first round of the MPSF tournament last season en route to winning the NCAA championship.

Stanford (15-8), ranked No. 6 in the nation, had a .452 hitting percentage in winning the first game, but it was the Waves who dominated after that.

Pepperdine hit a combined .531 in the final three games.

Jacobson and Peter Kodascy each had 12 kills for Pepperdine, which advanced to the MPSF tournament semifinals for the first time since 1994.

Roumain and freshman Scott Wong each had three aces for the Waves, who had 11 fewer service errors than Stanford, which had 25.

Wong also had 10 digs and only two hitting errors.

Andy Witt had 22 kills for Stanford, but he also had 13 hitting errors.

Patrick Klein added 18 kills and Tad Hoffman had 12 for Stanford, which defeated UCLA for the national title last season.