STANFORD, Calif. – Junior Will Rottman registered his first collegiate double-double to lead No. 15 Stanford in a 25-11, 25-20, 23-25, 25-14 win over UC Santa Cruz, Saturday, at Burnham Pavilion.
Rottman led the team with 14 kills on .300 hitting and 11 digs. All 14 Cardinal players appeared in the match against UC Santa Cruz (0-6).
Stanford (5-2) hit .272 as a team and finished with a season-high 11 aces, including three by Kevin Lamp and Nathan Lietzke, and a season-best 44 digs. The Cardinal held the Banana Slugs to a .096 attack percentage – the lowest by a Stanford opponent this season.
Redshirt sophomore Ethan Hill hit .467 with nine kills on 15 swings with just two errors. The middle blocker also tallied two assists and a block. Sophomore Luke Turner also registered nine kills to go with four digs, three blocks, two assists and an ace.
As a team, Stanford recorded a sideout rate of 71 percent, including a perfect 100 percent in the first set and a 93 percent in the fourth.
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— Stanford Men's Volleyball (@StanfordMVB) January 23, 2022
Hopefully the ground is ok.#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/Fr7Ubf1opf
Lietzke, Stanford's starting setter, posted 20 assists, four digs and two kills in two sets played. Sophomore Chris Kelly racked up a career-high 17 assists, three digs and his first collegiate kill, setting the offense in the second and third sets.
Redshirt junior libero Justin Lui matched Rottman with team-high 11 digs and had no reception errors on 17 attempts. Sophomore Matt Martinez also donned the libero jersey, sharing time with Lui in the third, notching his first two collegiate digs.
Middle blockers Nathaniel Gates and Adam Chang also split time for the Cardinal. Gates totaled three kills on .500 hitting, four blocks and four digs. Chang added two kills, four blocks and an ace.
Lamp started at outside hitter and had five kills, two digs and two blocks to go with the three aces in two sets played. Sophomore Aidan Peters played in the third and fourth sets, finishing with five kills, two digs, a block and an ace.
Junior Aaron Li made his Stanford debut against the Banana Slugs, picking up a dig in the third set.
UC Santa Cruz was led by outside hitter Cinjun Coe's 14 kills and match-high 14 digs. Middle Zachary Thompson added five kills and a match-high six blocks.
Up next, Stanford travels to Austin, Texas for the First Point Collegiate Challenge, Feb. 4-5, where it will face Kentucky State and No. 1 Hawaii.