Not Done Yet

LOS ANGELES – Led by Will Rottman, No. 5 seed Stanford knocked off No. 4 seed Grand Canyon, 25-21-25-20, 22-25, 25-22, Wednesday, in the quarterfinals of the MPSF Tournament at Pauley Pavilion.

Trailing 21-18 in the fourth, Stanford (13-13) went on a 7-1 run to close out the match and punch its ticket into the MPSF semifinals. Rottman had three kills during the final stretch which ended with a block by Ethan Hill and Nathan Lietzke, giving the Cardinal its first MPSF Tournament win since 2014.

Rottman led all players with 24 kills on .383 hitting to go with five digs, two blocks and an ace. The outside hitter now has six 20-plus kill matches on the season.
As a team, Stanford hit .310 while holding Grand Canyon (16-11) to a .202 clip. The Cardinal finished with 10.0 blocks, nine aces and 32 digs. For the match, there were 30 tie scores and 10 lead changes.

Lietzke dished out 35 assists and had a match-best 11 digs for his third double-double of the season. The setter also had four kills on five errorless swings and four blocks. Libero Justin Lui collected six digs and five assists.

Junior outside hitter Kevin Lamp posted 10 kills, three digs and four blocks, while Hill finished with a match-high seven blocks for Stanford. Middle blocker Nathaniel Gates hit .500, registering five kills, two blocks, two digs and an ace.

Junior Adam Chang came off the bench as a serving sub and put down three aces, including one in the Cardinal's final run to seal the match. Also notching an ace down the stretch was opposite Luke Turner who broke a 22-22 tie in the fourth, giving Stanford the lead for good.

Grand Canyon was led by Christian Janke, who had 11 kills, nine digs and four aces despite hitting .080. Camden Gianni added 10 kills on .179 hitting, five digs and an ace.

Stanford has a quick turnaround, facing No. 1 UCLA in the semifinals on Thursday at 4 p.m.