THIS WEEK: Stanford (4-15, 1-6 MPSF) plays host to USC (5-14, 1-5 MPSF) on Saturday, March 17 in an MPSF conference match at Burnham Pavilion. First serve is slated for 7 p.m. PT.
CATCH THE CARDINAL: Saturday's match will be streamed live for free on pac-12.com. Live stream and live stat links for the match can be found on the men's volleyball schedule page on GoStanford.com.
ABOUT USC: USC is coming off a four-set win over Harvard on Sunday, and will travel to No. 2 BYU on Thursday before making the trip to The Farm. The Trojans' win over the Crimson snapped a seven-match losing skid. USC is hitting .271 as a team and is led by junior Jack Wyett's 3.77 kills per set. The Trojans outlasted the Cardinal in five sets in Los Angeles on Feb. 8. Fifth-year senior Kevin Rakestraw had 18 kills on .516 hitting from the middle to lead Stanford, while Wyett had 22 kills to pace the Trojans.
LAST TIME OUT: Stanford picked up its first home win of the season last week, defeating UC San Diego for the second time. Freshman opposite Jaylen Jasper went off, posting a career-high 27 kills on .535 hitting, five digs and a career-best four blocks. Junior Russell Dervay returned to the lineup after missing two matches with an injury. Stanford also faced then-No. 3 UC Irvine last week, falling in three. However, the Cardinal had its second-highest team hitting percentage (.384) against the Anteaters.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Stanford ranks 11th as a team nationally with 12.18 kills per set and 21st with a .255 team hitting percentage. Individually, freshman Jaylen Jasper is ninth with 3.80 kills per set, while senior Evan Enriques is 18th with 2.29 digs per set.
WHO'S IN?: With injuries and a young roster, Stanford has struggled to find a consistent lineup. The Cardinal has utilized nine different starting lineups in its 20 matches. Freshman middle blocker Kyler Presho is the only Cardinal to start all 20 matches at the same position this season.
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.
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.
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.
NEW-LOOK MPSF: Each MPSF team will play 12 conference matches this season, featuring a home and away against each opponent. The 2018 MPSF Tournament begins with seed two, three and four hosting a quarterfinal match on April 14. The conference semifinals will be played on April 19 at the No. 1 seed. Semifinal winners will meet on April 21 for the championship with an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament on the line.
NEWCOMERS: Freshmen JP Reilly (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Leo Henken (Webster Grove, Mo.) were named AVCA First and Second Team High School All-Americans, respectively. Jaylen Jasper (Annapolis, Md.), whose high school did not offer boys' volleyball, was the No. 1 recruit in the class of 2017, as voted on for VolleyballMag.com, while Kyler Presho (San Clemente, Calif.) rounds out the Cardinal's freshman class.
OFF THE BLOCK PRESEASON RECOGNITION: Stanford was one of three teams to land two players on the Off The Block/Springbak Preseason All-America teams. Senior Evan Enriques, who was the first winner of the Erik Shoji Award (2016), given to the nation's top libero by Off The Block and a finalist for the award in 2017, was named to the first team. Fifth-year senior Kevin Rakestraw landed on the second team. Additionally, outside hitter Jordan Ewert received votes, which were collected from coaches around the nation.
2017 RECAP: Stanford finished the 2017 campaign 13-13 overall and 8-10 in the MPSF. After being picked to finish seventh by the MPSF coaches, Stanford tied for sixth and secured its ninth postseason appearance under head coach John Kosty. The Cardinal produced four all-conference selections and two AVCA All-Americans.
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 191-144 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).