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Mike Rasay/isiphotos.com
Men's Volleyball

Reverse Sweep

Box Score

STANFORD, Calif. – Playing in the MPSF's longest fifth set since 2017, No. 12 Stanford completed a 3-2 comeback win over BYU on Saturday at Maples Pavilion.

After being down 0-2 in the match, the Cardinal (12-11, 4-6 MPSF) came-from-behind to defeat the Cougars (8-14, 3-7 MPSF) 24-22 in the fifth set – tying for the third longest fifth set in MPSF history. Stanford finished 11-2 at home this season.

The Cardinal was once again led by junior Will Rottman, who had a match-high 32 kills on .391 hitting. The Santa Barbara native notched nine of Stanford's 15 kills in the decisive frame. For the weekend, Rottman averaged 6.25 kills per set on .468 hitting and 6.81 points per set.
 


Stanford hit .327 as a team, while BYU posted a .310 clip. The Cougars out blocked the Cardinal 11.0 to 8.0 and had a 58-53 advantage in digs. The 53 digs by the Cardinal was a season-high. Stanford also recorded a season-best 72 kills in the match.

Junior setter Nathan Lietzke dished out a career-high 58 assists and tallied a team-high 12 digs for his second double-double of the season. The setter also registered both of Stanford's aces in the match. Libero Justin Lui racked up 10 digs and had four assists. The redshirt junior has tallied double-digit digs in 10 matches this season.
 


Opposite Luke Turner recorded his team-best third double-double of the year with 11 kills and 10 digs, and matched his career-high with five blocks. The sophomore also carried a heavy load on serve receive, finishing with 42 of Stanford's 94 total attempts with just one error.

Stanford earned its first season series win over BYU since 2015. Stanford hit .585 and sided out at a rate of 85 percent in the fourth set. In the fifth set, there were 13 tie scores and six lead changes.

Middle blocker Nathaniel Gates hit a team-best .692 with nine kills on 13 errorless swings. The junior also collected a career-high six digs and four block. Gates did not commit a hitting error in the two matches against BYU, posting a .773 attack percentage.
 


Sophomore Aidan Peters provided a spark off the bench in the third and started the fourth and fifth sets in place of Kevin Lamp. Peters finished with six kills, two digs and two assists, while Lamp had seven kills, two digs and two assists. Middle blocker Ethan Hill added six kills, three digs and two blocks.

Junior Adam Chang was used as a serving sub in all five sets. He came up with a huge dig that led to a Rottman kill in the third set. Sophomore Chris Kelly also came off the bench and had two key digs for the Cardinal.
 


BYU was led by senior outside hitter Davide Gardini's 27 kills on .357 hitting and a match-high 16 digs. The Cougars started freshman Noa Haine at setter in place of Bartosz Slawinski on Saturday. Haine totaled 58 assists, nine digs, four blocks and two kills for the Cougars.

Stanford closes out the regular season on the road next week, traveling to Malibu to face No. 8 Pepperdine on Thursday and Saturday.