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Card Falls in MPSF Quarterfinals

by gostanford.com
Apr 22, 2021

PROVO, Utah – No. 6 seed Stanford left it all out on the court, Thursday, but came up short in the MPSF Quarterfinals against No. 3 seed Pepperdine (22-25, 25-21, 22-25, 19-25) at Smith Fieldhouse.

Sophomore Will Rottman was lights out all night, leading all players with a career-high 24 kills on .500 hitting – going above, around and through Pepperdine's block.
 

Stanford (3-14) recorded its second-highest hitting percentage of the season at .291 as a team. Pepperdine (12-5) hit .339 and edged the Cardinal in blocks (6.0-5.0) and digs (34-28).

Freshman Luke Turner finished with 13 kills on a .348 attack percentage to go with three digs and a block, while freshman Aidan Peters added six kills, three digs and two blocks.

Sophomore setter Nathan Lietzke controlled the offense with a match-high 45 assists to go with 10 digs for his second career double-double. Redshirt sophomore libero Justin Lui anchored the defense and collected eight digs.

Stanford hit .406 in the second set and turned in a sideout rate of 81 percent. The Cardinal held the Waves to a .172 clip in the second.

Senior middle blocker Kyler Presho was in on all five of the Cardinal's blocks on the night and also tallied four kills. Sophomore middle blocker Nathaniel Gates chipped in with six kills and had three assists.
 

Senior Mason Tufuga, sophomore Kevin Lamp and freshman Kupono Browne were all used as serving subs against the Waves.

Spencer Wickens and Jacob Steele led Pepperdine with 14 kills apiece, while Austin Wilmot finished with 12 kills and five blocks. The Waves will face No. 2 seed UCLA in the semifinals on Friday. Host and No. 1 seed BYU will take on No. 4 seed Grand Canyon in the other semifinal match.
 

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