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Karen Ambrose Hickey/Stanford Athletics
Men's Volleyball

Upset Card

Box Score

STANFORD, Calif. – A joust at the net won by Nathan Lietzke gave No. 14 Stanford another top 5 win, defeating No. 5 USC, 25-19, 20-25, 25-16, 28-26, Friday, at Maples Pavilion.

Stanford (10-8, 2-3 MPSF) improves to 9-1 at home in 2022. The Cardinal did not commit an attack error in the final two sets and hit better than .500 in all three of the sets it won.

Lietzke controlled the offense with 43 assists and finished with five digs, three blocks, three kills and an ace. Redshirt junior Justin Lui had a team-best eight digs to go with five assists.
 


Junior outside hitter Will Rottman led the team with 20 kills on .436 hitting and had six digs and two assists. It was the second 20+ kill performance of the season for the Santa Barbara native, who has tallied double-digit kills in 16 of 18 matches.

The Cardinal matched a season-high, hitting .480 as a team, while the Trojans hit .327. Stanford out blocked USC (16-4, 3-2 MPSF), 10.0 to 5.0. Both teams finished with 55 kills and six aces.
 


Opposite Luke Turner hit .667 with 11 kills on 15 swings with just one error. The sophomore also recorded five digs, three blocks, including one to give Stanford match point, and an ace. Junior Kevin Lamp added nine kills on a .368 attack percentage and two digs.

Middle blocker Nathaniel Gates hit a team-best .778 with seven kills on nine errorless attempts. The junior also had a match-high five blocks, including two solo. Redshirt sophomore Ethan Hill totaled five kills, four blocks and two aces.
 


Junior Adam Chang came off the bench as a serving sub in all four sets, registering a pair of aces and a dig. Sophomore Aidan Peters also appeared in all four sets off the bench, collecting two aces.

Entering the match No. 1 in the RPI, USC was led by opposite Simon Gallas who had a match-high 22 kills on .452 hitting. Outside hitter Sam Kobrine chipped in with 16 kills, while libero Cole Paxson turned in a match-high 10 digs.

Stanford and USC meet again on Saturday. First serve is slated for 6 p.m. on Pac-12 Bay Area and Pac-12 Los Angeles.