Long before the days of the BYU and underdog dominance in the NCAA championships, there was a university with a solid volleyball program. But in recent years, that same program has failed to make it to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoffs.
But 2008 may just be Stanford’s comeback year.
“Stanford is a strong program coming back to prominence once again,” coach Al Scates said.
The No. 4 Bruins (2-1) will face this rising program tonight, and the University of the Pacific on Saturday in their first home matches of the season.
Since the Cardinal won the NCAA championship in 1997, it has been unable to make it past the MPSF quarterfinals. But with victories over recent volleyball powerhouses Irvine and Cal State Northridge in UCSB’s Elephant Bar Tournament last weekend, Stanford has been making a big splash in the standings.
Ranked No. 13 in the preseason American Volleyball Coaches Association poll, the Cardinal leapfrogged eight spots over both Irvine and Northridge.
With that feat, Stanford senior Matt Ceran is this week’s reigning co-MPSF Player of the Week.
“They’re doing really well this year,” junior setter Matt Wade said. “They have a couple of good recruits. They lost one of their middles who was pretty good last year, but I guess they bounced right out of that.”
Picking up a couple of talented Volleyball Magazine Fab 50 players each year has certainly paid off for the Cardinal. Recruited from Hawaii, sophomore Kawika Shoji and freshman Spencer McLachlin have already made huge contributions.
“If they dig up a blue chipper a year they’re going to be fine,” Scates said.
Meanwhile, UCLA has had its own lineup to worry about. Yet the starting situation is beginning to clear up. After last weekend’s Outrigger Invitational, Scates has seen impressive performances from outside hitter Garrett Muagututia, libero Tony Ker and from quick hitters Weston Dunlap and Jamie Diefenbach in the middle.
“We’re definitely stronger because of the experience last weekend,” Scates said. “We played 14 people so I got a good look at everybody.”
And a couple of surprising performances made an impact on Scates as well.
“(Jeff) Woodley played the best he’s ever played (against Hawaii),” Scates said. “I certainly hope to play him sometime this week. (Ryan) Ratelle played well, too. Had we not gone to the third match (at the Outrigger), neither one of those two guys would have played.”
Just as nothing is set in stone on the first court in practice, whoever is playing best at the time will likely earn the start tonight.
LINEUP CHANGES: With such a deep lineup, opposite Sean O’Malley has moved over to the outside where he has a better chance of breaking into the starting lineup.
“(Opposite) Brett Perrine is a very solid player, so it’s no use stacking both players at the same position,” Scates said.
Also, with an impressive performance on the right side at the Outrigger, outside hitter Ratelle may see more playing time at opposite.
INJURY UPDATE: Sophomore outside hitter Dylan Bowermaster has not been able to fully practice with the team after straining his quadriceps tendon in weight training last Wednesday.