May 14, 2009
STANFORD, Calif. - The Stanford men's volleyball team did what it set out to do: It continued to brand itself as a rising power and it clinched a top-four conference finish to earn its first postseason home match in six years.
But reaching those goals only made the abrupt end of the season all the more painful. The better Stanford got, the more it expected. And when the Cardinal fell to visiting USC in five sets in the first round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament, and then watched as the Trojans reached the national final, Stanford was thusly motivated for an even better 2010.
"We were happy with the progress we made, but disappointed in the end result," junior setter Kawika Shoji said. "That loss will leave a bitter taste in our mouths for the summer and the fall and motivate us to improve and, hopefully, make the national championships at Stanford next year."
That's right. The 2010 national championships will be at Maples Pavilion May 6 and 8, and Stanford should be a contender to reach its first final four since 1997.
In 2009, the Cardinal (21-11) won more matches than in any season since 1997, earned its highest season-ending ranking (No. 6) since 2003, had two first-team All-Americans for the first time since 1993, and increased its victory total by 18 over just two seasons.
In addition, Stanford won 11 of 12 matches during one stretch and 16 consecutive sets, its longest such streak since 1995. Stanford twice beat teams ranked No. 2 in the country, Pepperdine and Cal State Northridge, and beat 11 teams ranked in the nation's final Top 15.
The kicker is that Stanford loses only four seniors and, of those, only middle blocker Brandon Williams was a regular starter. In fact, Stanford often started three freshmen - libero Erik Shoji, outside hitter Brad Lawson and middle blocker Gus Ellis.
Individually, brothers Kawika and Erik Shoji became Stanford's first first-team All-Americans since Kevin Hansen in 2005. Erik crushed the national single-season mark for digs, with 447, and had seven of the 11 national 20-dig performances.
Kawika broke Hansen's school single-season record for assists in the rally-scoring era (since 2001), with 1,394. And junior opposite hitter Evan Romero led the Cardinal in kills for the third consecutive season while also extending the school rally-scoring record for career kills, to 1,295.
Erik Shoji earned national Newcomer of the Year honors and earned recognition on a much-greater scale for his kick-assist against UC San Diego. The video clip of the play - where he kicked a live ball, while sprawled on the ground, directly to Lawson for a kill - was shown on ESPN's SportsCenter and was No. 3 on the show's Plays of the Week. Six weeks after being posted on Stanford's YouTube site, the play had been viewed 214,563 times.
Stanford was a team that played better as the season wore on as its young players became acclimated to their teammates and style of play. The Cardinal wasn't as imposing as many of its opponents, but played its best when serving and passing allowed the offense to run with precision and keep the opponent's block off the net.
Besides its success on the court, the highlight of the season was the continued presence of 18-year volunteer assistant Al Roderigues. Suffering from stomach cancer, Roderigues was unsure how much contact he would have with the team. But even while receiving chemo drips from a tube in his arm connected to a backpack, Roderigues took his customary seat on the bench for every home match, was at practice once a week, and even made the trip to Hawaii for the Cardinal's two-match February road sweep.
"Seeing his face when we landed, and being able to walk down Waikiki with him and his fiancée, was extremely special," Kawika Shoji said.
Only a 20-30, 27-30, 30-27, 30-24, 15-11 playoff loss to USC stained the luster of a strong season.
"I definitely see room for improvement," Erik Shoji said. "We played well at points, but I think we can improve in every aspect. Our passing, our overall ball-control and our blocking can definitely improve. I'm excited to see what we can do."
Here are notable team accomplishments for 2009:
Most victories (21) since 1997
Highest season-ending ranking (No. 6) since 2003
Two first-team All-Americans for the first time since 1993
First home playoff match since 2003
Two victories over No. 2-ranked teams
Beat 11 of the nation's final Top 15 teams
Led nation in digs per set (11.42)
Individual accomplishments for 2009:
Kawika Shoji
AVCA first-team All-American
Two-time AVCA All-American
Broke school single-season record for assists in the rally-scoring era (1,394)
All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation first team
MPSF Player of the Week (March 2)
11th in nation in assists per set (12.56)
Erik Shoji
AVCA first-team All-American
AVCA national Newcomer of the Year
Broke national record for single-season digs (447)
All-MPSF second team
All-MPSF freshmen team
Had seven of the nation's 11 20-dig performances
No. 2 on ESPN SportsCenter's Plays of the Day (April 7)
No. 3 on ESPN SportsCenter's Plays of the Week (April 12)
National leader in digs (447) and digs per set (3.92)
Evan Romero
All-MPSF honorable mention
Broke school career record for kills in the rally-scoring era (1,295)
Led team in kills for third consecutive season
MPSF Player of the Week (March 30)
11th in nation in kills per set (4.33)
Brad Lawson
All-MPSF third team
All-MPSF freshmen team
MPSF Player of the Week (Feb. 2)
Spencer McLachlin
All-MPSF third team
Brandon Williams
MPSF Player of the Week (Feb. 16)