diff --git a/io_mesh_ply/import_ply.py b/io_mesh_ply/import_ply.py
index 9cf5df6390adec0194d3eee908f19b2157be2dc6..5d4f8244a4c201c5ed7e5198d2fbab410dfbd91c 100644
--- a/io_mesh_ply/import_ply.py
+++ b/io_mesh_ply/import_ply.py
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ class element_spec(object):
 
     def load(self, format, stream):
         if format == b'ascii':
-            stream = re.split(b'\s+', stream.readline())
+            stream = stream.readline().split()
         return [x.load(format, stream) for x in self.properties]
 
     def index(self, name):