KANSAS CITY, Mo. – No. 3 Stanford was unable to complete its comeback, falling 22-25, 21-25, 25-18, 25-18, 10-15 to No. 2 Florida on Thursday night in the NCAA semifinals.
Competing in its 21st national semifinal and third in the last four years, the Cardinal (30-4, 19-1 Pac-12) came up short in its bid to repeat as NCAA champions.
Stanford was seeking its first comeback victory since rallying from a two-set deficit against Wisconsin in the NCAA regional final last December.
Tied 4-4 in the deciding set, Florida (30-1, 17-1 SEC) ripped off five straight points to take command. The Gators closed it out by winning four of the final five points, advancing to their first NCAA final since 2003.
Redshirt senior Merete Lutz led Stanford with 19 kills while sophomore Kathryn Plummer contributed 16 kills. Freshman Meghan McClure added 11 kills, sophomore Morgan Hentz racked up a match-high 25 digs and sophomore Jenna Gray dished out 49 of the Cardinal's 59 assists.
Trailing 2-0 in the match, Stanford came to life early in the third set. Tied at 8-8, the Cardinal embarked on an 8-2 scoring run and wrapped up the set with three consecutive kills from Lutz.
The Cardinal was equally dominant in the fourth set, leading throughout and limiting Florida to a .111 hitting percentage.
Stanford's 30 victories were its most since a 33-2 finish in 2014. Led by first-year head coach Kevin Hambly, the Cardinal claimed its 17th Pac-12 championship on Nov. 15 with a sweep of USC.