Stanford knocks off No. 12 UC Irvine in fifth-game overtime to stay unbeaten

Photo courtesy of Stanford athletics

Middle attacker Nathaniel Gates delivered a career performance to help Stanford knock off its first nationally ranked opponent of the season.

Gates finished with career-high 11 kills and zero errors on a .786 attack percentage as Stanford defeated No. 12 UC Irvine 25-23, 25-25-21, 25-27, 22-25, 20-18 on Saturday in Stanford, California.

The middle attacker was one of three Cardinal players with double-digit kills in the team’s third straight win to open the season.

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Outside attacker Will Rottman led Stanford (3-0, 0-0 MPSF) with 16 kills – the third consecutive match that the junior had at least 12 kills. Outside attacker Luke Turner added 12 kills, including a team-high five kills in the decisive fifth game and capped it off with the match-winning kill in overtime.

Stanford had a .372 attack percentage in the first two games to jump out to a two-game lead and finished the match out-hitting UC Irvine .237 to .234.

Outside attacker Francesco Sani in the loss led all players with 24 kills on a .333 attack percentage. In addition, freshman outside attacker Hilir Henno contributed 22 kills and had a match-high 19 kills.

Despite the loss, UC Irvine (1-1, 0-0 Big West) out-blocked Stanford 15.5 to 10.5 and had three players with at least five blocks.

Middle attacker Connor Campbell finished with a match-high five blocks. Outside attacker Doug Dahm also had six blocks, while Henno contributed five blocks.

Outside attacker Kevin Lamp led Stanford five blocks, and Gates and setter Nathan Lietzke each added four blocks.