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Back in the Final Four

Aspen Times Staff

Former Aspen High standout Lizzie Suiter helped Stanford knock off Texas in four games Saturday to send the Cardinal to its 16th NCAA volleyball Final Four. Suiter, a senior middle blocker who also starred in basketball at Aspen, started for Stanford in 2004, when the Cardinal last won a national championship.Second-seeded Stanford faces Pacific-10 foe Washington (29-4) around 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the second of two semifinal matches at the Quest Center in Omaha, Neb. The first semifinal match between top-seeded Nebraska and fourth-seeded UCLA is set for 5 p.m. Semifinal winners will advance to the championship match at 7 p.m. Saturday. This is the third time three Pac-10 squads have advanced to the NCAA Final Four, also occurring in 1985 and 2004.All three matches will be broadcast nationally, with the second semifinal between the Cardinal and the Huskies airing live on ESPNU at approximately 7:30 p.m. Thursday and tape-delayed on ESPN2 at noon Friday. Should Suiter and the Cardinal advance to the championship, that match will be broadcast live on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. Saturday.Suiter has been named to the Pac-10 All-Academic First Team for the last three years and is second in single season blocks in Stanford history behind Olympian Kim Oden. Suiter has notched 102 kills for the Cardinal this season -fifth on the team – and has 26 blocks.Before arriving at Stanford, she carried Aspen to a third-place finish in the state volleyball tournament in 2001 as a junior, which led to recruiting interest from a number of Division I programs.The Aspen Times, Aspen, Colo.