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Men's Volleyball

On to the Final

STANFORD, Calif. – Behind a season-high 26 kills from Will Rottman, No. 8 Stanford took down No. 6 BYU, 25-20, 23-25, 25-22, 22-25, 15-12, Thursday, in the semifinals of the MPSF Tournament at Maples Pavilion.

Stanford (15-12), which has reached the final of the MPSF Tournament for the second straight season, held No. 2 seed BYU (19-7) to a season-low .149 attack percentage. Improving to 5-2 in five-set matches in 2023, the Cardinal hit .278 and matched its season-high with 52 digs and had 13.5 blocks.

Rottman hit .490, registering 26 kills on 49 attempts with just two errors. The outside hitter also tallied a career-high six blocks to go with seven digs and had three of Stanford's six aces.
 


With the match tied 1-1, Stanford trailed 7-1 to start the third resulting in a change in the lineup. Freshman Theoren Brouillette replaced Nathan Lietzke at setter and Luke Turner took over for Kevin Lamp at outside hitter. The Cardinal went on to outscore BYU 22-12 down the stretch to capture the pivatol set.
 


Brouillette dished out 30 assists in three sets played. The San Jose native added two kills, two digs and a block in his postseason debut. Lietzke finished with 23 assists, three kills, three digs, three blocks and an ace. Libero Justin Lui racked up 10 digs and four assists.
 


Middle blocker Nathaniel Gates turned in 10 kills on .438 hitting and six blocks, while Ethan Hill added six kills, five blocks, five digs and an ace. Opposite Theo Snoey collected a career-high 13 digs and finished with eight kills, a block and an ace.

Leading wire-to-wire, Stanford hit .414 in the decisive fifth set, totaling 12 kills on 29 errorless swings. The Cardinal is now 5-2 in matches that go the distance this season.

Lamp finished with five kills, four digs and a blocks, while Turner had seven digs, three kills and three assists.

BYU was led by outside hitter Luke Benson's 13 kills on .310 hitting and a match-high 15 digs. Outside hitter Miks Ramanis chipped in with 10 kills, while middle blocker Teon Taylor had a match-high eight blocks.

No. 3 seed Stanford will take on No. 1 seed UCLA in the MPSF Championship on Saturday at 6 p.m. in Maples Pavilion.