March 6, 2008

Stanford, Calif. - Stanford Volleyball This Week:
Fri, Mar. 7 at No. 4 Long Beach State, 6 p.m., Walter Pyramid
Sat, Mar. 8 at UC San Diego, 7 p.m., RIMAC Arena

Coming Up:
Stanford men's volleyball will look to build off their longest winning streak of the season, which has reached four games after the three wins last week. This week Stanford will face Long Beach State and UC San Diego in their second to last regular season road trip of the season. On Fri, Mar. 7 the Cardinal will face Long Beach State (13-2, 9-2 MPSF) and on Sat, Mar. 8 will face UC San Diego (5-13, 2-11 MPSF). The game against Long Beach State will begin at 6:00 p.m. and the UC San Diego match will start at 7:00 p.m.

Last Week:
In their action last week, the Cardinal defeated the Hawai'i Warriors in both matches last week. The first match was a five match thriller (26-30,30-26,30-25,28-30,16-14) , but the Cardinal regrouped and was able to win in three games (30-22,30-23,30-25) in the rematch. The Cardinal also hit the road for a road match against UC Santa Cruz, and was able to come away with their second consecutive sweep. (30-21,30-16,30-21)

Stanford Up To Seventh in CSTV/AVCA Poll:
The Cardinal rose to No. 7 in the CSTV/AVCA poll after occupying the ninth spot in the previous poll. The team earned 137 points, to maintain a three-point lead over 8th ranked USC. In a peculiar decision, the Cardinal was placed behind No. 6 UC Irvine, despite having a better record and winning both matches against the school. Penn State (16-0) remained in the top spot after earning 14 first-place votes, while BYU (14-1) stayed in the second spot and received two first-place votes. Cal State Northridge (14-4), Long Beach State (13-2) and Pepperdine (8-5) rounded out the top five. The Cardinal also rose to sixth in the Molten/Volleyball Magazine media poll.

Romero Named AVCA National Player of the Week and MPSF Co-Player of the Week:
Cardinal sophomore Evan Romero was named AVCA National Player of the Week and MPSF Co-Player of the Week for the week of for February 26-March 3. Romero led the No. 9 Cardinal to a 3-0 week after two defeats of Hawai'i and a win over UC Santa Cruz. In the Wednesday game against Hawai'i, Romero had 29 kills and 9 digs in the 3-2 win. Romero hit .302 in the contest. Romero had a career day though in the Thursday 3-0 win when he recorded 20 kills and hit .692 in the win. In the final game, a 3-0 win over Santa Cruz, Romero added eight kills and played in only two of the games. His week totals were 57 kills and a .421 attack percentage for the weekend.

Season Leaders:
The Cardinal are coming up on the end of the season and have some usual faces on their leaderboard. For the second straight year Stanford is led by Romero, with 296 kills, and senior Matt Ceran is second with 214 kills and is leading second on the team in digs with 129. Sophomore Kawika Shoji is leading the team with 638 assists, and junior Brandon Williams is leading the team in blocks with 53.

Romero's Consistency:
Sophomore Evan Romero has had a very consistent season en route to recording 296 kills on the season. Romero is more than two-thirds to his season-total of 384 kills, achieved in his freshman season. Romero recorded 20 kills in the win against Pacific in Stanford's only action. Romero also recorded 27 kills in the two games last week against UC Santa Barbara and CS Northridge. Romero also recorded 46 kills in the two wins over Hawai'i.

Shoji Shows Versatility:
Sophomore Kawika Shoji has primarily played setter this season, but moved to attacker against Pacific and recorded 19 kills with a .368 attack percentage. He also had 15 digs in the victory and led the team in service aces (3) and blocks (4).

McLachlin Providing A Lift:
Freshman Spencer McLachlin missed seven games earlier in the season, but has returned the past two weekends and has provided the Cardinal with a huge lift. McLachlin returned to record 11 saves in the victory against UC Santa Barbara (2/8) and eight kills in the loss to CS Northridge (2/9). McLachlin had his best game since his return against Pacific (2/15) when he recorded 16 kills in the victory to go along with 13 digs and a .314 attack percentage.

About the 49ers:
Head Coach Alan Knipe enters his 8th season at the helm for Long Beach State. The 49ers come into the weekend with senior Paul Lotman leading the way, with 318 kills on the season and 5.58 per game. Sophomore Dean Bittner also has 270 kills, with an average of 4.74 per game. Overall, the 49ers have three players with over 100 kills on the season. Freshman Mike Klipsch is the starting setter for LBSU, leading the team with 823 assists.

About the Tritons:
Head Coach Kevin Ring enters his third season at the helm for UC San Diego. The Tritons come into the weekend with Jason Spangler leading the way, with 298 kills on the season and a 4.58 per game. Frank Fritsch also has 225 kills, with an average of 3.63 per game. Phil Bannan is starting setter for UC-San Diego, leading the team with 1204 assists on the season.

Up Next:
After the weekend, the Cardinal will return home for finals break and have no matches next week. They will return to the court when they travel to Los Angeles, Calif. on Friday, Mar. 29 when they take on the Trojans of USC.