April 10, 2012
STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford senior libero Erik Shoji was named the Sports Imports/AVCA Men's Division I-II National Player of the Week for his performances in three men's volleyball victories over ranked teams last week.
Shoji, a three-time first-team All-America, had consecutive performances of 17 and 16 digs. Shoji had 17 digs in a sweep of Long Beach State, tying for the second-highest total in school history for a three-set match in the rally-scoring era, and tying for the most digs in the nation this season for three sets.
The defensive effort helped transition the Stanford offense to a .381 hitting percentage.
Shoji's 16 dig-performance came in a dramatic five-set victory over Cal State Northridge on Saturday that kept the fourth-place Cardinal in the running for the MPSF regular-season title.
The Honolulu native also had seven digs against Pacific and combined for 10 assists during the week. He earned Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Week honors on Monday.
Shoji, who will be honored Saturday along with six teammates on Senior Night, now has five matches of at least 15 digs. No one else in the country has more than three.
Stanford (18-6 overall, 15-5 in the MPSF) concludes the regular-season with 7 p.m. home matches Friday against UC Santa Barbara and Saturday against No. 3 UCLA, both at Maples Pavilion.
This is the 11th time a Stanford men's volleyball player has been named a Sports Imports/AVCA Player of the Week, with the most recent coming the week of February 14th of this year when Brad Lawson took home the honor.