May 24, 2012
STANFORD, Calif. - The Stanford men's volleyball team has won two national championships over the past two decades, but this year's squad can be regarded as the Cardinal's best non-championship team since 1994.
That might not be much of a consolation to the Cardinal, which finished with a No. 3 ranking, but it goes some way to illustrating that this was a team on par with any team in the country.
The Cardinal missed sharing a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular-season title by one game and missed a trip to the NCAA final four by losing in a fifth-set heartbreaker to eventual champion UC Irvine in the MPSF tournament final.
But the Cardinal, at times, was exceptional. Its' regular-season home finale sweep of No. 3 UCLA was as flawless a performance as the team has had in the past two seasons and an example of a confident team that had reached its potential.
That match would later be described by senior Brad Lawson at the team's annual postseason banquet as one of his Stanford highlights. It also highlighted the play of senior libero Erik Shoji, who had two spectacular digs off wide-open attacks.
Lawson, Shoji, and setter Evan Barry each received All-America honors, with Lawson and Shoji stamping themselves among the best in school history.
Shoji became the first player to ever achieve four AVCA first-team All-America honors. And Lawson became one of four in Stanford history to receive three first-team honors. The Lawson-Shoji era will be remembered. The childhood friends from Honolulu were vital to the team's 2010 national championship run, and provided some of the finest passing, not to mention hitting and digging, in program history.
Shoji leaves as the collegiate recordholder in career digs. Lawson leaves as the school recordholder in career kills during the rally-scoring era. And middle blocker Gus Ellis leaves as the school's career blocks leader in the rally-scoring era.
Those two, along with Barry, Ellis, fellow fourth-year seniors Dylan Kordic and Jake Vandermeer, and fifth-year senior Charley Henrikson comprise the winningest class in program history. Their 86 victories broke the mark of 81, set by the class of 2011.
Their departures appear to mark an end of an era, because of the class's stature in school history, its' talent, and its' connections with the national championship team.
The 22-7 season -- that also featured Stanford's best conference record since 1997 (15-7) -- was not about numbers, it was about performances and people. As much as Stanford will recall the final-day UCLA victory that vaulted the Cardinal three spots in the standings to the No. 2 seed for the conference tournament, it also will remember the two-match early-season sweep at then-No. 1 BYU, and others.
There also was the comeback from a 2-1 deficit at Ohio State when Kordic replaced an injured Barry - in Kordic's first career setting experience against a Division I opponent - and rallied the Cardinal to a five-set victory. And the team's play down the stretch, when the Cardinal won seven consecutive matches to place it in the MPSF final.
The talented senior class will be gone, but the emergence of sophomores Brian Cook, Steven Irvin, and Eric Mochalski, offers promise for the future, and an exceptional recruiting class should allow Stanford to continue its winning tradition.
The 2012 team ultimately did not win any championships, but neither should it be overlooked when the great Stanford teams over the years are recounted.
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The following are team and individual accomplishments and honors from 2012:
Team
Ranked No. 3 by the AVCA and Volleyball Magazine
Fifth consecutive Top 10 finish
Second place MPSF finish
Played host to MPSF first-round match for the fourth consecutive season
Best conference record (17-5) since 1997
First in nation in kills per set (14.04)
Second in nation in assists per set (13.29)
Second in nation in hitting percentage (.338)
No. 3 in Stanford single-match hitting percentage in rally-scoring era (.515 vs. Juniata)
No. 10 in Stanford single-match hitting percentage in rally-scoring era (.468 vs. Loyola)
No. 9 in Stanford single-match kills in rally-scoring era (78 vs. CSUN)
No. 8 in Stanford single-match attempts in rally-scoring era (168 vs. CSUN)
No. 10 in Stanford single-match digs in rally-scoring era (57 vs. Hawai'i)
No. 5 in Stanford single-match five-set digs in rally-scoring era (57 vs. Hawai'i)
No. 2 in Stanford single-match service aces in rally-scoring era (10 vs. Juniata)
No. 5 in Stanford single-match service aces in rally-scoring era (9 vs. Pepperdine)
No. 10 in Stanford single-match opponents' hitting percentage in rally-scoring era (.093 vs. Long Beach State)
John Kosty
Earned career victory No. 100 on April 3 against Pacific
Evan Barry
AVCA second-team All-America
All-MPSF second team
NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship winner
MPSF Player of the Week (Feb. 20)
Stanford Muscle Milk Athlete of the Week (Feb. 20)
Led nation in assists per set (12.04)
No. 2 in Stanford career assists per set in rally-scoring era (11.41)
No. 3 in Stanford career assists in rally-scoring era (2,739)
No. 3 in Stanford single-season assists in rally-scoring era (1,336)
No. 7 in Stanford single-season assists per set in rally-scoring era (12.04)
No. 10 in Stanford single-match assists in rally-scoring era (66)
First in the MPSF in digs per set (12.04)
Member of Stanford's winningest senior class (career record: 86-33)
Started all 29 matches
Team overall record: 22-7
Brian Cook
All-MPSF second team
Gus Ellis
No. 1 in Stanford career blocks in rally-scoring era (392), No. 4 all-time
Tied for No. 1 in Stanford career blocks per set in rally-scoring era (1.10), No. 9 all-time
No. 5 in Stanford single-season total blocks in rally-scoring era (101)
No. 9 in Stanford single-season blocks per set in rally-scoring era (1.02)
No. 6 in Stanford single-match blocks in rally-scoring era (9)
NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship alternate
Member of Stanford's winningest senior class (career record: 86-33)
Started 25 of 27 matches
Team overall record: 22-7
Charley Henrikson
Member of Stanford's winningest senior class (86 victories)
Stanford's first 100-victory player (103 victories in five seasons)
Steven Irvin
All-MPSF honorable mention
MPSF Player of the Week (Feb. 7)
Stanford Muscle Milk Athlete of the Week (Feb. 7)
Tied for No. 4 in Stanford single-match service aces in rally-scoring era (4)
Dylan Kordic
Member of Stanford's winningest senior class (86 victories)
Brad Lawson
AVCA first-team All-America
All-MPSF first team
MPSF All-Tournament team
One of four Stanford players ever to receive three first-team All-America honors
AVCA National Player of the Week (April 17)
AVCA National Player of the Week (Feb. 14)
MPSF Player of the Week (Feb. 14)
No. 1 in Stanford career kills in rally-scoring era (1,828), No. 5 all-time
No. 1 in Stanford career service aces all-time (128)
No. 3 in Stanford career kills per set in rally-scoring era (4.18)
No. 7 in Stanford career hitting percentage in rally-scoring era (.326)
No. 2 in Stanford single-season service aces in rally-scoring era (41)
No. 3 in Stanford single-season service aces per set in rally-scoring era (0.37)
No. 6 in Stanford single-season kills in rally-scoring era (451)
No. 2 in Stanford single-season sets played all-time (437)
Tied for No. 4 in Stanford single-match service aces, with three four-ace matches
All four single-season kill totals rank among Stanford's rally-scoring era top-10 list
Fifth in nation in kills per set (4.10)
Member of Stanford's winningest senior class (86 victories)
Eric Mochalski
All-MPSF honorable mention
Broke own Stanford single-season record for hitting percentage in rally-scoring era (.462)
Set Stanford single-match record for hitting percentage in rally-scoring era (.833, Loyola)
No. 9 in Stanford career service aces in rally-scoring era (45)
No. 7 in Stanford single-season service aces in rally-scoring era (30)
No. 7 in Stanford single-season total blocks in rally-scoring era (100)
Second in the MPSF in hitting percentage (.462)
Erik Shoji
AVCA first-team All-America
All-MPSF first team
MPSF All-Tournament team
First-ever four-time AVCA first-team All-America
AVCA National Player of the Week (April 9)
MPSF Player of the Week (April 9)
No. 1 in career digs in collegiate history (1,402)
No. 1 in Stanford career digs all-time (1,402)
No. 1 in Stanford career digs per set all-time (3.16)
No. 3 in Stanford single-season digs in rally-scoring era (304)
No. 3 in Stanford single-season digs per set in rally-scoring era (2.69)
No. 2 in Stanford single-match digs for three sets in rally-scoring era (17)
Set Stanford record for single-season sets played (443), all-time
No. 2 in Stanford single-match digs for three-set match in rally-scoring history (17)
No. 5 in Stanford single-match digs for three-set match in rally-scoring history (15)
Owns top four single-season dig totals in school history
Third in nation in digs per set (2.69)
First in the MPSF in digs per set (2.69)
Member of Stanford's winningest senior class (career record: 86-33)
Started at libero in all 29 matches
Team overall record: 22-7
Jake Vandermeer
Member of Stanford's winningest senior class (86 victories)