THIS WEEK: No. 8 Stanford (9-5, 6-3 MPSF) plays host to third-ranked BYU (12-2, 6-1 MPSF) for a pair of matches on The Farm this week. The Cardinal and Cougars will square-off in Maples Pavilion on Thursday, Feb. 23 and in Burnham Pavilion on Friday, Feb. 24. Both matches are slated for 7 p.m. PT.
CATCH THE CARDINAL: Live stats for both matches can be found on the men's volleyball schedule page on GoStanford.com. Thursday's match will be televised live on Pac-12 Bay Area, while Friday's match will be streamed for free via pac-12.com. All links can be found on GoStanford.com.
SOCIAL MEDIA: Fans have access to unique behind-the-scenes content on the team by liking Stanford Men's Volleyball on Facebook or following the team on Twitter (@StanfordMVB) and Instagram (@therealstanfordmvb).
LAST TIME OUT: Stanford split its matches last week, falling at USC (3-0) before earning a 3-2 win at Cal Baptist. The Cardinal was held to a season-low .089 hitting percentage against the Trojans. Versus the Lancers, redshirt senior Gabriel Vega hit a season-high .481 with 15 kills and seven digs. Jordan Ewert led the team with 16 kills on .306 hitting and three blocks. Saturday's outing at Cal Baptist was Stanford's third come-from-behind five-set win of the season.
SCOUTING THE COUGARS: BYU enters the week ranked third in the nation and second in the MPSF at 6-1. The Cougars lead the MPSF with 1.55 aces per set and rank second in kills (13.43) and assists (12.53). Junior opposite Ben Patch is second in the league with 4.83 kills and 5.26 points per set. Senior outside hitter Jake Langlois adds 3.69 kills and 4.45 points per set for the Cougars. Junior setter Leo Durkin directs the offense with 10.66 assists per set, third-best in the MPSF.
IN THE POLL: Stanford dropped two spots to No. 8 in this week's AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Poll after splitting its road matches last week. The Cardinal is one of 10 MPSF squads to appear in the top 15.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Stanford ranks in the top 20 nationally in kills (15th - 12.20), blocks (19th - 2.14), assists (17th - 11.40) and aces (18th - 1.28) as a team. Individually, Kevin Rakestraw's .436 hitting percentage is seventh in the nation, while junior Evan Enriques is 18th with 2.26 digs per set. Sophomore Jordan Ewert's 3.79 kills per set and 4.38 points per set are 14th and 15th nationally, respectively.
FILLING THE VOID: Stanford graduated 55 percent of its offensive output from last season, leaving holes that need to be filled. Jordan Ewert is leading the Cardinal this season with 182 total kills (3.79 kps), while redshirt senior Gabriel Vega has tallied 121 kills (2.63 kps). Kevin Rakestraw is third on the team with 108 kills (2.16 kps) as a middle.
TOP-RANKED CLASS: Freshmen Eric Beatty (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Paul Bischoff (Wheaton, Ill.) were named AVCA First Team High School All-Americans. Stanford was one of three teams nationally with two selections to the first team. Jacob Thoenen (St. Charles, Mo.) and Eli Wopat (Santa Barbara, Calif.) earned second team honors, while Stephen Moye (El Segundo, Calif.) and Mason Tufuga (Costa Mesa, Calif.) round out the Cardinal's freshman class, which was rated No. 1 in the nation by VolleyballMag.com.
COACHES POLL: Stanford was picked to finish seventh in the MPSF by the league's coaches. BYU garnered nine-first place votes and was picked to be the champion. UCLA, which collected three first-place votes, came in second followed by Long Beach State.
HEAD COACH JOHN KOSTY: Stanford head coach John Kosty is in his 11th season at the helm of the Cardinal program and his 27th overall on staff. He is 183-120 in his career and has guided Stanford to the 2010 NCAA national championship and the 2014 NCAA finals. The Cardinal has produced a first team AVCA All-America selection in eight of the past nine seasons under Kosty.
