Next Seven on the RoadNext Seven on the Road
Stanford Athletics
Men's Volleyball

Next Seven on the Road


Stanford (1-6) at No. 1 Long Beach State (7-0) | Friday • 6 p.m. PT
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THIS WEEK: Stanford (1-6) begins a seven-match road trip with a rematch against No. 1 Long Beach State (7-0) on Friday at 6 p.m. in Walter Pyramid. 

ABOUT LONG BEACH STATE: Ranked No. 1 for the second-straight week, Long Beach State is 7-0 to start the season. The Beach leads the nation with a .403 team hitting percentage and is fourth with 13.14 kills per set. Junior setter Josh Tuaniga controls the offense with 10.52 assists per set, the sixth-best mark in the country. Junior Kyle Ensing leads the team with 3.27 kills per set on .428 hitting - the 10th-best output in the country. Junior TJ DeFalco averages 3.09 kills on .333 hitting and 0.46 aces per set.

IN THE POLL: Stanford entered the 2018 campaign ranked No. 8 in the preseason AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Poll. After starting 0-3, Stanford dropped out of the poll for the first time since March 2, 2015. Five MPSF squads are ranked in the top 15.

LAST TIME OUT: Stanford dropped two straight set decisions at home last week to then-No. 7 CSUN and No. 1 Long Beach State. The Cardinal hit .213 as a team  and gave up 2.17 aces per set in the two matches. Fifth-year senior Kevin Rakestraw was a bright spot, hitting .571 with 17 kills and just one error combined. Freshman opposite Jaylen Jasper led the team with 3.17 kills per set.
 


DEFENSIVE HONOR: Senior Evan Enriques was voted the MPSF Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in his career on Jan. 15 for his efforts at Ohio State and Ball State. The libero averaged 3.14 digs per set and did not commit a reception error in the two matches. He tied his season-high with 15 digs against the Buckeyes and followed up with seven digs and a season-best six assists versus the Cardinals.
 


STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Stanford ranks 10th as a team nationally with 9.08 digs per set (2nd - MPSF) and 19th with 12.04 kills per set (4th - MPSF). Individually, senior Evan Enriques is seventh in the nation with 2.68 digs per set, while Kevin Rakestraw is seventh with a .448 attack percentage.

ALL IN THE FAMILY: Senior libero Evan Enriques is one of four in his immediate family to currently be playing collegiate men's volleyball. His younger brother, Emmett, is a junior libero at CSUN, while twins Addison and Avery are freshmen at Concordia and Grand Canyon, respectively.
 


COACHES POLL: Stanford, along with Pepperdine, was picked to finish third in the MPSF by the league's coaches. BYU, which received four first-place votes, was picked to win the MPSF for the third straight season, while UCLA collected two first-place votes and came in second.

HEAD COACH JOHN KOSTY: Stanford head coach John Kosty is in his 12th season at the helm of the Cardinal program and his 28th overall on staff. He is 188-134 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 10 seasons under Kosty. Stanford has appeared in the MPSF Tournament in nine of Kosty's 11 seasons (missing out in 2007 and 2015).