COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Stanford All-American setter James Shaw is one of three collegiate players to be named to the 2014 U.S. Men’s National Team preliminary roster for FIVB World League competition, USA Volleyball announced on Monday.
A Woodside, Calif., native, Shaw is joined on the preliminary roster by former Cardinal All-Americans Kawika (2010) and Erik (2012) Shoji. Seven Olympians are also a part of the roster.
Shaw is one of three collegians named to the training roster along with USC’s Micah Christenson and BYU’s Taylor Sander. All three have played internationally as part of the USA Volleyball High Performance Program, but only Christenson has played with the senior national team.
“There are some very good collegiate players that are going to start moving onto the roster,” U.S. head coach John Speraw said. “Both James and Taylor had great seasons. I wanted Taylor in the gym last summer, but it didn’t work out academically. And I think James has improved a great deal over the last year.”
Shaw just completed his sophomore season on The Farm, helping lead the Cardinal to the NCAA championship match. He was a second team AVCA All-American and a first team All-MPSF performer. He ranked ninth nationally in assists per set (10.86) and directed the Cardinal offense, which led the MPSF and was second in the nation, in hitting percentage (.334).
The FIVB World League is the premier annual international men’s volleyball competition. Teams compete for six weekends of pool play in hopes of qualifying for the Final Round. This year, the U.S. Men, ranked No. 4 in the world, will play No. 2 Russia, No. 6 Bulgaria and No. 9 Serbia. The U.S. staff can choose 14 players from the 22-man roster to compete each weekend, as long as there are two designated liberos.
U.S. Preliminary Roster for the 2014 FIVB World League
1. Matt Anderson (OH, 6-9, West Seneca, N.Y., Penn State)
2. Sean Rooney (OH, 6-10, Wheaton, Ill., Pepperdine)
3. Taylor Sander (OH, 6-4, Huntington Beach, Calif., BYU)
4. David Lee (MB, 6-8, Alpine, Calif., Long Beach State)
5. Ryan Ammerman (S, 6-9, Denver, Colo., UC Irvine)
6. Paul Lotman (OH, 6-7, Lakewood, Calif., Long Beach State)
7. Kawika Shoji (S, 6-3, Honolulu, Hawaii, Stanford)
8. Reid Priddy (OH, 6-4, Richmond, Va., Loyola Marymount)
9. Murphy Troy (Opp, 6-8, St. Louis, Mo., Southern California)
10. Tony Ciarelli (OH, 6-6, Huntington Beach, Calif., USC)
11. Micah Christenson (S, 6-6, Honolulu, Hawaii, Southern California)
12. Russell Holmes (MB, 6-8, Fountain Valley, Calif., BYU)
13. Futi Tavana (MB, 6-7, Kalaheo, Hawaii, BYU)
14. Jeff Menzel (OH, 6-6, Santa Barbara, Calif., UC Santa Barbara)
15. Carson Clark (Opp, 6-6, Santa Barbara, Calif., UC Irvine)
16. Dustin Watten (L, 6-0, Long Beach, Calif., Long Beach State)
17. Max Holt (MB, 6-9, Cincinnati, Ohio, Penn State)
18. Garrett Muagututia (OH, 6-5, Oceanside, Calif., UCLA)
19. Alfee Reft (L, 5-10, Oxnard, Calif., Hawaii)
20. David Smith (MB, 6-7, Saugus, Calif., UC Irvine)
21. James Shaw (S, 6-8, Woodside, Calif., Stanford)
22. Erik Shoji (L, 6-0, Honolulu, Hawaii, Stanford)