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Not too shabby for a program that was supposed to be disbanded.
Setter Nathan Lietzke guided the offense to a .472 attack percentage as Stanford swept Lindenwood 25-16, 25-14, 25-18 to open its season on Wednesday in Stanford, California.
This was the first match for Stanford since the university revised its 2020 decision to eliminate its men’s volleyball program. The Cardinal as a result that decision, which wasn’t changed until the offseason, played the entire 2021 season under the premise it would be the last year of the program.
Stanford in the season-opening win hit more than .450 in each game and had four players with at least five kills. Outside attacker Will Rottman led all players with 12 kills on a .547 attack percentage, while outside attacker Luke Turner added seven kills and hit .417.
The Cardinal also finished with 10 aces – seven more aces than the Lions.
Rottman, outside attacker Kevin Lamp and middle attacker Adam Chang each had a match-high three aces.
Outside attacker Diego Negron in the loss had a team-high seven kills. In addition, middle attacker Cal Werths contributed four kills on a team-best .429 attack percentage.
Werths was the only Lindenwood player to hit more than .250 against Stanford.
Stanford and Lindenwood will conclude their two-match non-conference series on Thursday.
Lindenwood following this series will remain at Stanford to play UC Irvine on Friday. Stanford also is slated to play a home match against UC Irvine on Saturday.