After shaking the cobwebs off in last week’s season-opening win over UC-Santa Cruz, the Stanford men’s volleyball team will begin defending last season’s Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) title as it plays host to a hardened No. 2 BYU (3-0, 0-0 MPSF) team tonight.
The No. 4 Cardinal (1-0, 0-0) returns three starters from last year’s national championship-winning team, along with 13 letter-winners overall. That includes two American Volleyball Coaches Association first-team All-Americans in outside hitter Brad Lawson and libero Erik Shoji. The two juniors said they have worked hard to create a new team identity this offseason.
“Coming into the season we had a whole new lineup so we wanted to work on our chemistry and flow on the court,” Shoji said. “We’re working hard to build relationships on the court, but it is early in the season so we realize there will be lots of ups and downs. I believe that we have the energy and mental toughness to fight through it, though.”
In the sweep against Santa Cruz, Shoji reached double digits with 10 digs and Lawson led the team with 11 kills, but both weren’t quite at their usual levels of play. Perhaps returning to Maples Pavilion for the first time since the NCAA title match against Penn State last May will spark the duo. In that match, Lawson hit an otherworldly .821 with 24 kills in three sets, and Shoji had several crucial digs that former Cardinal opposite hitter Evan Romero called simply “absurd.”
However, BYU looks to be an even bigger test than previously thought. After finishing 2010 with a No. 2 final national ranking, the Cougars were hit hard by allegations of misconduct concerning improper use of scholarship money, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. In August, head coach Shawn Patchell was fired and four players were eventually suspended from the first few matches of 2011 following an NCAA investigation, including both of the team’s experienced setters.
But just last weekend, BYU rode the play of true freshman outside hitter Taylor Sander to win the eight-team Gaucho Invitational at UC-Santa Barbara. Sander was named the tournament’s MVP and the MPSF player of the week after recording 42 kills, 16 digs and eight blocks in three matches against stiff competition.
The tournament victory pushed the Cougars up to No. 2 in the latest AVCA national rankings behind USC.
“Historically, BYU has just been a strong serving and blocking team, and this year is no different,” said Stanford head coach John Kosty. “Even though there have been some changes in their starting lineup through graduation, they have a core of starters that has been a great strength for them. They’re just a good, solid team.”
BYU holds a 24-13 edge in the all-time series, but the two teams have split the season series in each of the past three years. Stanford, however, is in the midst of a 13-match win streak at Maples Pavilion and hasn’t lost a set since the first round of MPSF Tournament play last April.
If the streaks are to continue, the Cardinal will rely on several younger players to step up and support Lawson, Shoji and junior middle blocker Gus Ellis. In the match against Santa Cruz, freshman outside hitters Brian Cook and Steven Irvin both played well, with Cook getting a kill on his first collegiate touch and hitting .545 for the match with seven kills.
But it could be tough going against BYU’s 6-foot-8 middle blockers Otavio Souza and Futi Tavana. The towering duo has combined for 46 blocks in just three matches and has thrown in 30 kills to boot.
“We’ve got to serve efficiently to hopefully neutralize their offensive attack and then pass the ball to the net so that we can run our own offense,” Kosty said.
Stanford will hope for another solid game from its first-year setter, junior Evan Barry (31 assists against Santa Cruz), to neutralize the Cougars’ height and get a good result in the conference opener for both teams.
The first match will start tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Maples Pavilion, with the second and final match of the weekend series slated for 7:30 p.m. tomorrow night in Burnham Pavilion.