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MACLEAN BRWON, Pepperdine Athletics
Men's Volleyball

Stanford Blocks BYU

Cardinal advances to MPSF semifinals

Box Score

MALIBU, Calif. โ€“ Behind a season-best 15.5 blocks, No. 6 seed Stanford knocks off No. 3 seed BYU, 25-23, 19-25, 27-25, 19-25, 15-10, Thursday, in the quarterfinals of the MPSF Tournament at Firestone Fieldhouse.

The Cardinal (13-14) has advanced to the semifinals of the MPSF Tournament for a fourth consecutive season- the longest such streak in school history.

Outside hitter Theo Snoey led the team with 21 kills on .357 hitting, four aces and four blocks for 27.5 points. The junior has reached the 20-klill mark six times this season and is averaging 4.89 kills and 5.67 points per set in the postseason.

As a team, Stanford hit .244 and had 10 aces and 33 digs to go with the season-high 15.5 blocks. BYU (19-10) hit at a .279 clip and finished with 10.5 blocks and eight aces.

Opposite Moses Wagner posted 16 kills, three aces, six digs, four blocks for 21.0 points. Setter Theoren Brouillette finished with 46 assists, four digs and a career-high six blocks.

In total, six different Cardinal recorded at least three blocks, led by freshman Kaumana Carreira who had a career-high seven. Carreira teamed up with sophomore Nate Clinton on match point to seal the win.

Clinton notched five kills, 10 digs, three blocks and two aces for the Cardinal. Freshman Reed Wainwright tallied four kills on .500 hitting and four blocks. Freshman libero Evan porter racked up 10 digs to go with four assists.

The Cardinal and Cougars battled all night as there were 24 tie scores and eight lead changes in the match, including 16-7 in the third set alone.

BYU was led by outside hitter Luke Benson, who had a match-high 22 kills, four aces, four digs and four blocks. No other Cougar reached double-digit kills in the match.

No. 6 seed Stanford meets No. 2 seed USC in the MPSF semifinals on Friday. First serve is scheduled for 8 p.m. on B1G+.