LA JOLLA, Calif. – Despite a season-high 18 kills from Will Rottman, No. 12 Stanford was swept at No. 10 UC San Diego, 25-20, 25-22, 25-23, Saturday, at RIMAC Arena.
UC San Diego (2-0) earned its first win over Stanford (3-2) since 2011. The Tritons hit .300, while holding the Cardinal to a .259 clip. The Tritons held an 8-5 advantage in aces and a 6.0 to 5.0 edge in blocks. The Cardinal out dug UCSD, 36-34.
Rottman tallied his 18 kills on a .455 attack percentage, committing just three hitting errors. The outside hitter also registered a team-high three aces to go with three digs and two blocks.
UC San Diego jumped out to an early lead and led wire-to-wire in the first set. The second set was back and forth with 15 tie scores and two lead changes. For the match, the Tritons posted a sideout rate of 71 percent to just 63 percent by the Cardinal.
Junior setter Nathan Lietzke controlled the offense with 25 assists and finished with seven digs, two kills and two blocks. Redshirt junior libero Justin Lui collected six digs.
San Diego area natives Adam Chang and Nathaniel Gates started for the Cardinal at middle blocker. Chang hit .571 with four kills on seven errorless swings and had a team-high four blocks. Gates hit .500 with four kills on eight swings with no errors.
Sophomore Luke Turner started at opposite and recorded a match and career-high 10 digs. He also had three kills, two blocks and an ace for the Cardinal. Junior Kevin Lamp started at outside hitter, but was replaced in the first set by sophomore Aidan Peters. Playing in his first match this season, Peters totaled six digs, a kill and an ace.
UC San Diego was led by senior outside hitter Kyle McCauley's 14 kills and seven digs. Setter Blake Crips finished with 34 assists and a team-high three aces.
Stanford returns to The Farm next week, hosting Vanguard on Friday at 7 p.m. and UC Santa Cruz on Saturday at 6 p.m. Both matches will be played in Burnham Pavilion.
