LOS ANGELES – For the second straight night, Stanford won the opening set, but fell to No. 9 UCLA in four (21-25, 25-18, 25-12, 25-19) at Pauley Pavilion.
UCLA (8-3) hit .402 as a team, while holding Stanford (0-5) to .111 hitting. The Bruins also out dug the Cardinal 43-28. Both teams recorded 6.0 blocks and six service aces.
Sophomore outside hitter Will Rottman led Stanford with a team-best 12 kills, five digs and two blocks. Freshman opposite Kupono Browne added six kills and matched his career-high with three aces.
Senior middle blocker Kyler Presho notched five kills on 10 errorless swings to hit .500. He also tallied a team-high four blocks. Redshirt freshman middle blocker Ethan Hill, a transfer from UCLA, pitched in with four kills, two blocks and an ace.
Sophomore setter Nathan Lietzke finished with 27 assists to go with two blocks, two digs and an ace. For the second consecutive match, redshirt sophomore libero Justin Lui had nine digs. He also was solid on serve receive, successfully passing 28 balls with no errors.
What a rally ??
— Stanford Men's Volleyball (@StanfordMVB) March 7, 2021
Diving save by Lamp extends this play, finally resulting in a kill by Hill!#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/nHEjoClP1p
Five different Cardinal came off the bench Saturday night – Chris Kelly, Gabriel Miranda, Aidan Peters, Mason Tufuga and Luke Turner. Turner registered three kills on .600 hitting, Kelly took over setting duties late in the third and had two assists in one set played.
UCLA was led by Cole Ketrzynski's 17 kills on .500 hitting and nine digs. Merrick McHenry totaled 10 kills on .435 hitting and a match-high five blocks.
Stanford remains on the road next weekend, traveling to No. 2 BYU for a pair of matches Friday and Saturday on BYUtv.