Stanford can’t complete comeback, loses in 5 sets
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Defending NCAA volleyball champion Stanford lost its bid for a stirring comeback victory Thursday as No. 2 Florida captured a fiveset thriller in a semifinal match.
The No. 3 Cardinal fell 25-22, 25-21, 18-25, 18-25, 15-10.
Florida will play fifthseeded Nebraska, which beat Penn State in the other semifinal, for the title Saturday night.
Stanford (30-4) was seeking its first comeback win since rallying from a two-set deficit against Wisconsin in the NCAA regional final last December.
Tied 4-4 in the deciding set, Florida (30-1) ripped off five straight points to take command. The Gators won four of the final five points to close out the match and advance to their first NCAA final since 2003.
Merete Lutz led Stanford with 19 kills and Kathryn Plummer contributed 16. Morgan Hentz had a match-high 25 digs and Jenna Gray had 49 assists. Nebraska wins in 5 sets: Mikaela Foecke had 19 kills, Annika Albrecht and Briana Holman had 13 apiece as the Cornhuskers beat the Nittany Lions.
Nebraska took advantage of a series of service mistakes by topseeded Penn State to beat its Big Ten rival for the seventh straight time. The Huskers also advanced to their eighth title match, in which they will try to secure their fifth national championship.
Nebraska won the opening set 25-18 before dropping the next two, and then rallied to win the fourth 28-26 and force a deciding set. The Huskers took it 15-11 to advance to the final.