April 10, 2009
STANFORD, Calif. - Erik Shoji broke a longstanding Stanford men's volleyball record on the same night the Cardinal suffered a tough five-set loss to BYU.
The Cougars snapped Stanford's eight-match conference winning streak Friday night and climbed into a tie for a crucial playoff position after their 26-30, 33-31, 30-24, 26-30, 15-11 victory at Maples Pavilion.
The top four teams in the rugged Mountain Pacific Sports Federation are awarded homecourt advantage in the first round of the conference tournament, and going into Saturday night's rematch at Maples, the two share fourth place at 12-7 with only one weekend of regular season play.
No. 5 Stanford (19-9 overall) struggled to get through the BYU block. In all, the Cougars (16-10), ranked No. 6, had 20.5 blocks.
"We knew they were a very good blocking team coming in," said Stanford's Evan Romero, who 15 kills and five blocks. "But I look at it two ways: They have a strong block and hitters are going to pay for it, and that as hitters, we made mistakes."
Stanford hit .202 as a team, but still out-hit the Cougars, who were limited to a .195 hitting percentage.
Shoji has been the man of the hour for Stanford. His remarkable kick-assist to Brad Lawson in a victory at UC San Diego last week was ESPN Sportscenter's No. 2 Play of the Day on Tuesday and the video clip has been a YouTube sensation.
His 24 digs Friday gave him 401 this season, which broke the Stanford single-season record of 379, set by three-time Olympian Scott Fortune in 1986.
"It's an honor to get the record," Shoji said. "I just wish it had come on a winning night."
Of the ESPN attention, Shoji said "I did not expect it, but it was cool."
Said Stanford coach John Kosty, "Erik's done a tremendous job, and he's putting up numbers that are just staggering. But we also expect a lot out of him. As much as he's breaking records, he could be a better player."
However, Kosty's immediate task is figuring out how to beat BYU.
"They did a great job against us," Kosty said. "Now, we need to come back and play how we play. We need to pass a little better and side out a little better."
Spencer McLachlin had 20 kills for Stanford, which also had a 10-match winning streak at Maples ended. Stanford's last loss in the building was in 2007.
"We played OK, but not as good as we should have," Romero said. "Maybe this will boost us to play even better."