March 26, 2008

Stanford, Calif. - Stanford Volleyball This Week:
Fri, Mar. 28 at Pepperdine, 7 p.m., Firestone Fieldhouse
Sat, Mar. 29 at USC, 7 p.m., Galen Center

What's Next:
Stanford men's volleyball will return from a three-week break and head back to southern California for their final regular season roadtrip of the year. The Cardinal will face Pepperdine and USC before returning home to play their final four games of the regular season at home. On Friday, Mar. 28, the Cardinal will face Pepperdine (10-8, 9-8 MPSF) and on Sat, Mar. 29 will face USC (10-13, 7-10 MPSF). The Pepperdine match will begin at 7:00 p.m. and the USC match will start at 5:00 p.m.

Coming Up:
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).

Important Stretch
Currently Stanford is tied for fourth place with UCLA in the MPSF Standings, which has heavy postseason implications. The fourth place finisher will host a first round MPSF Conference Tournament match, while the fifth place team will have to head to the road. The Cardinal will have a great chance to control their fate when they host UCLA at Maples Pavilion on Friday, Apr. 11.

Stanford Up To Sixth in CSTV/AVCA Poll
The Cardinal rose to No. 6 in the CSTV/AVCA poll after occupying the seventh spot in the previous poll. The team earned 156 points, to maintain a 19-point lead over 7th ranked Ball State. Penn State (21-1) remained in the top spot after earning seven first-place votes, while CS Northridge (17-4) stayed in the second spot and received seven first-place votes as well. Long Beach State (19-3), BYU (17-4) and Pepperdine (10-8) rounded out the top five. The Cardinal also rose to sixth in the Molten/Volleyball Magazine media poll.

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 314 kills, and senior Matt Ceran is second with 221 kills and is leading second on the team in digs with 132. Sophomore Kawika Shoji is leading the team with 671 assists, and junior Brandon Williams is leading the team in blocks with 59.

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.

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 Waves
Head Coach Marv Dunphy enters his 25th season at the helm for Long Beach State. The Waves come into the weekend with junior All-American Paul Carroll leading the way, with 232 kills on the season and 6.44 per game. Freshman Cory Riecks is second on the team with 209 kills and 3.22 per game. Overall, the 49ers have four players with over 100 kills on the season and three over 200. Senior Jonathan Winder is the starting setter for LBSU, leading the team with 823 assists.

About the Trojans
Head Coach Bill Ferguson enters his second season at the helm for USC. The Trojans come into the weekend with Murphy Troy leading the way with 348 kills on the season and a 4.24 per game. Juan Figueroa also has 344 kills, with an average of 4.30 per game. Senior Jimmy Killiam is starting setter for USC, leading the team with 1053 assists on the season.

Up Next
After the weekend down south, the Cardinal will play their first home game in five weeks when they take on UCSD and Long Beach State. The UCSD matchup will take place on Friday, Apr. 4 at Maples Pavilion and the Long Beach State matchup will be played at Burnham Pavilion. Both matches will begin at 7:00 p.m.