PALO ALTO -- Playing in the home of the defending national champions, the BYU men's volleyball team fell in five sets (21-25, 25-17, 23-25, 25-19, 17-15) to the Stanford Cardinal, Friday.

"Stanford is a great team and we enjoyed playing in a great atmosphere," said BYU interim head coach Rob Neilson. "We had some opportunity to close out the match but in the end, we were just one play short. I was proud of our effort tonight and we'll learn from our mistakes as we look to execute at a higher level."

True freshman Taylor Sander led the Cougars with 17 kills, hitting .270. Teammate Joe Kauliakamoa had 55 assists and also led the team with eight digs.

In the fifth set, BYU led 7-6 on a Robb Stowell service ace and extended that lead to a match point at 14-12. Back-to-back kills from Stanford's, Brad Lawson evened the score at 14. Taylor Sander set up a third match point with a kill to make it 15-14 but the Cougars committed consecutive hitting errors and Stanford blocked BYU's final attack to win 17-15.

The Cougars and Cardinal proved to be equal competitors as they traded set victories in the first of a pair of matches against each other this weekend.

Homestanding Stanford took set one, 25-21 with BYU keeping it close all the way and leading the attack on a 15-13 kills total. BYU’s Joe Kauliakamoa had 14 assists in the first set.

BYU fought back and dominated set two, winning 25-17. The Cougars hit .318 in the set and recorded a 94 percent sideout percentage (17-18).

Set three was close again with neither team taking a lead of more than two points the entire game. BYU came close to taking the win at the end, tying the set at 19, 20, 21 and 23 before the Cardinal took the last two points on kills by Brad Lawson and Spencer McLachlin.

The Cougars took a 7-3 advantage to start the fourth set with back-to-back kills from Otavio Souza and two blocks by Alex DaPron, leading to an eventual 25-19 victory. Souza led the fourth set with four blocks and three kills. Freshman Taylor Sander also had three kills in the fourth.

Stanford outhit BYU .292 to .237 but the Cougars dominated from the service line, recording six aces to zero from the Cardinal and four fewer errors.

BYU will play the second match in this weekend's series tomorrow, Saturday Jan. 15, at 7:30 p.m. PT on Stanford's court.

The No. 2 BYU men's volleyball team will begin its conference season this weekend against the defending 2010 national champions, No. 4 Stanford, on Jan. 14 and 15 at 7:30 p.m. PT in California.

Traveling with a 3-0 record to start the season after winning the annual Gaucho Invitational on UC Santa Barbara campus, the Cougars will play matches four and five of their 7-game road streak to kick off the 2011 season.

True freshman Taylor Sander currently leads the team with 40 kills and 16 digs on 11 sets. Sander was named All-Tournament MVP at the Invitational and MPSF Player of the Week after his first showing in a BYU jersey.

Teammates Robb Stowell, Futi Tavana, Steve Rindfleisch and Otavio Souza are also in double-figure kills with 27, 18, 12 and 12, respectively. The Cougars are thus far out-hitting their opponents 127-44.

Stanford (1-0) was picked to finish third in the MPSF and is returning three starters, including All-America libero Erik Shoji, and 13 letterwinners overall.

Stanford enters the conference season having won seven consecutive matches and 17 consecutive sets. The last time they lost a match at UCLA in its penultimate 2010 regular season contest of 2010. Last season, the Cougars and Cardinal split the two-game series on BYU's home court.

Live stats for both games can be followed on Gametracker through the Stanford athletics schedule page. Click HERE for a link.