Advance notice is never guaranteed when you’re a collegiate athlete.

Freshman setter Trent Taliaferro was forced to learn that lesson when he found out morning of that he would be the starting setter for one of the nation’s top teams.

No.2 UCLA men’s volleyball (11-3) defeated No. 10 Stanford (7-7) in four sets Thursday at Pauley Pavilion to secure another tally in its five-game win streak.

“I had some of the older guys call me, and they said, ‘You’re in. Rowan’s (junior setter Andrew Rowan) out,’” Taliaferro said. “The guys are super helpful and walked me through it.”

The match marked Taliaferro’s first Bruin start. He posted three service aces as well as three blocks and 47 assists, all marking season highs for the freshman.

In the first set, Stanford had an early 7-5 lead that would result in UCLA never being able to close the gap.

The Bruins’ frustration showed when junior outside hitter Zach Rama fell to the ground and slapped the floor after the Cardinal succeeded in securing yet another point.

“I feel like we were trying to play it safe at times, and that caused errors,” said coach John Hawks.

UCLA led in service errors in the first set, ending with 12 compared to Stanford’s one, leading to a 25-23 loss that left the Bruins at an early 1-0 disadvantage.

Redshirt junior outside hitter Cooper Robinson was confident the Bruins could turn the match around. UCLA succeeded in doing just that, taking an early 8-3 lead before securing its first win of the game at 25-21 in the second set.

The team carried that momentum into the third set of the match, with senior outside hitter/opposite Ido David securing back-to-back aces before UCLA clinched another win at 25-21.

“He’s (David) such a ray of light,” Robinson said. “And when he’s on, he’s crazy good.”

The game against Stanford marked a comeback for David after he was benched against UC Santa Barbara due to an injury. The match saw David set a season-high of 14 kills as well as a team-high of four aces, eventually securing a .632 clip.

Rama and Robinson also saw double-digit kills, with Robinson trailing his season high of 17 by just one point.

Redshirt junior middle blocker Sean McQuiggan also helped the Bruins on their path to victory, notching a .667 hitting percentage. McQuiggan, along with Rama, made the match point of the fourth set courtesy of a block that ended the set at 25-19, sealing the win for the Bruins.

The Bruins will once again face the Cardinal on Friday at Pauley Pavilion.

“They’ve got a lot of pride,” Hawks said. “So we’re going to go out there and mash that and play Bruin volleyball.”