Jan. 14, 2012
STANFORD, Calif. - Eric Mochalski, you just set the Stanford single-match record for hitting percentage. How did you do it?
"Great setting," he said.
An outstanding performance by setter Evan Barry certainly was part of it, but Stanford was in such a zone that it seemed like the Cardinal was taking target practice at times in a 25-19, 25-11, 25-21 nonconference men's volleyball victory over No. 14 Loyola-Chicago at Maples Pavilion on Saturday night.
Mochalski, a sophomore middle blocker, hit .833 - with 10 kills and no errors in 12 attacks - to break the rally-scoring era mark held by Craig Buell (.824 against UC Irvine) since 2003. Ten kills was the minimum needed to qualify and Mochalski got it late in the fifth with back-to-back kills that helped break open a game that was once tied 14-14.
Stanford (3-0) hit .468 as a team, with three players hitting better than .450 with at least 10 kills. The others were Brian Cook (12, .474) and Brad Lawson (11, .474). Meanwhile, the Cardinal held the Ramblers (2-4), who just concluded a six-match, nine-day West Coast stretch, to .169.
"If I was going to look at one aspect that really helped us, it was Erik Shoji," Stanford coach John Kosty said of his All-America libero. "He controlled serve-receive. If he can control the defense, he controls the match.
"He gave Eric Mochalski many opportunities to take swings, and he held Loyola at bay. They couldn't get anything going because Erik wouldn't let them."
The all-era hitting percentage record is .944 by Mike Hoefer against Pepperdine in 1994. And in the rally-scoring era (since 2001), the most notable performance from a percentage standpoint was Brad Lawson's in a 24-kill, 28-swing match against Penn State in the 2010 NCAA championship match. Lawson hit .821 in that one, a figure that drops to third all-time.
Mochalski habitually hits for a high percentage. Last season, as a freshman, he set a rally-scoring season mark of .451.
"He sees the court really well," Kosty said. "He sees the defense, and he's very explosive and quick. If he's given the ball somewhat close to the right position, he's going to get a kill. He's one of those easy guys to set, because he's always there, he's always up. His arm is going to get through quick enough to hit any set."
And, yes, setter Evan Barry had a lot to do with it. He has set Stanford (3-0) to a .438 hitting percentage as a team.
"Evan Barry did a very good job of distributing the ball," Kosty said. "He could have done some things to force something, but he made the correct decision every time."
However, it will be nearly impossible to maintain that pace with the next 10 matches on the road. That's a homeless stretch of six weeks for Stanford before returning for its Mountain Pacific Sports Federation home opener on Feb. 24 against Pepperdine.
"I like where we're sitting right now," Kosty said. "But there are a lot of things we can do better."
Like hitting .900.
-- David Kiefer, Stanford Athletics