[Nan3cy]

An amazing and extremely fun match against #3 UC Santa Barbara last night. The good guys were down 2-zip in sets, and were behind midway through what I was sure would be the third game of a sweep, when all of a sudden, the lights came on -- or maybe I should say our guys started shooting the lights out.

For the first 2-1/2 sets, Brad Lawson was the only one who could hit the broad side of a barn. Spencer McLachlin was hitting -.071. There were lots of service errors, no blocking game, and a complete inability (except for Lawson) to get a kill. Then the tide turned, and everybody was contributing, including a freshman named Denny Falls, who had hardly played at all this year. Maybe Coach Kosty decided things couldn\'t get worse and it was time to see if someone -- anyone -- could step up. He picked the right guy. Stanford wound up winning the last three sets, getting stronger as the games went on. For the last three games, Spencer hit .350 after those two disastrous first sets. Lawson wound up with something like 26 kills and hit over .500 for the match.

The team definitely misses Kawika Shoji and Garrett Werner and Evan Romero, but there are two freshmen in addition to Falls who are really good and have been playing a lot all year. So as much as they\'ll miss Spencer next year, there are good players in the pipeline and the team should stay good and fun to watch. There will be five matches played at home during March, so if you\'re in the neighborhood, come out to root for the defending national champions!

[Nan3cy]

An amazing and extremely fun match against #3 UC Santa Barbara last night. The good guys were down 2-zip in sets, and were behind midway through what I was sure would be the third game of a sweep, when all of a sudden, the lights came on -- or maybe I should say our guys started shooting the lights out.

For the first 2-1/2 sets, Brad Lawson was the only one who could hit the broad side of a barn. Spencer McLachlin was hitting -.071. There were lots of service errors, no blocking game, and a complete inability (except for Lawson) to get a kill. Then the tide turned, and everybody was contributing, including a freshman named Denny Falls, who had hardly played at all this year. Maybe Coach Kosty decided things couldn\'t get worse and it was time to see if someone -- anyone -- could step up. He picked the right guy. Stanford wound up winning the last three sets, getting stronger as the games went on. For the last three games, Spencer hit .350 after those two disastrous first sets. Lawson wound up with something like 26 kills and hit over .500 for the match.

The team definitely misses Kawika Shoji and Garrett Werner and Evan Romero, but there are two freshmen in addition to Falls who are really good and have been playing a lot all year. So as much as they\'ll miss Spencer next year, there are good players in the pipeline and the team should stay good and fun to watch. There will be five matches played at home during March, so if you\'re in the neighborhood, come out to root for the defending national champions!

[Mick]

Losing a senior all-america setter in Kawika Shoji is like losing your QB, like losing Andrew Luck.  Shoji was an extraordinary and gifted setter.  Nothing against the current setter (who should be fine), but you can\'t switch out the best setter in volleyball and not feel it.

I might also mention that freshman pin hitter Brian Cook is playing exceedingly well and starting.  He\'s only been playing serious gym volleyball in a competitive club for the last two years (though he has been a fantastic beach player for a number of years) and has lots of room for improvement.  You might know his sister Karissa plays for the women\'s team at Stanford.

Brian is a local product, which is chiefly interesting because until recently, Northern California hadn\'t turned out many men\'s volleyball stars.  About four years ago, Bay to Bay VBC (HQ\'d in Scotts Valley), sent MB Brandon Williams and L Jerod Keller to Stanford.  This year, Cook was recruited, and next year, MB Matt Aiello will join Stanford along with possibly one other B2B player.

This past year, Bay to Bay produced five D1 players in Cook, Taylor Averill (recruited by UC Irvine, but will play elsewhere next year), Kyle Gerrans at Pepperdine and Jeff Stapleton and Brad Howard at Princeton.  All of the true frosh are getting significant playing time, and Cook, Stapleton and Howard are starting.  Three other players are playing at D3 MIT (Evan Wang) and Springfield (Tommy Crow and Scott McMahan).

[Mick]

Losing a senior all-america setter in Kawika Shoji is like losing your QB, like losing Andrew Luck.  Shoji was an extraordinary and gifted setter.  Nothing against the current setter (who should be fine), but you can\'t switch out the best setter in volleyball and not feel it.

I might also mention that freshman pin hitter Brian Cook is playing exceedingly well and starting.  He\'s only been playing serious gym volleyball in a competitive club for the last two years (though he has been a fantastic beach player for a number of years) and has lots of room for improvement.  You might know his sister Karissa plays for the women\'s team at Stanford.

Brian is a local product, which is chiefly interesting because until recently, Northern California hadn\'t turned out many men\'s volleyball stars.  About four years ago, Bay to Bay VBC (HQ\'d in Scotts Valley), sent MB Brandon Williams and L Jerod Keller to Stanford.  This year, Cook was recruited, and next year, MB Matt Aiello will join Stanford along with possibly one other B2B player.

This past year, Bay to Bay produced five D1 players in Cook, Taylor Averill (recruited by UC Irvine, but will play elsewhere next year), Kyle Gerrans at Pepperdine and Jeff Stapleton and Brad Howard at Princeton.  All of the true frosh are getting significant playing time, and Cook, Stapleton and Howard are starting.  Three other players are playing at D3 MIT (Evan Wang) and Springfield (Tommy Crow and Scott McMahan).