Stanford Set To Take On CSUN, Long Beach State

THIS WEEK: Stanford (1-4) returns to The Farm this week to play host to No. 7 CSUN (4-0) on Wednesday in Burnham Pavilion and newly No. 1 Long Beach State (6-0) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Maples Pavilion.

CATCH THE CARDINAL: Live stat links for the matches can be found on the men’s volleyball schedule page on GoStanford.com. Both matches will also be streamed online for free via pac-12.com.

AUTOGRAPH NIGHT: Fans can stick around following Saturday’s match to get a free team poster and receive autographs from the entire Stanford team.

ABOUT CSUN: No. 7 CSUN enters the week undefeated at 4-0, having lost just one set all season. The Matadors are hitting .397 as a team and averaging 2.96 blocks and 2.31 aces per set. Senior opposite Arvis Greene paces the team with 3.90 kills per set on .325 hitting. Junior outside hitter Dimitar Kalchev adds 3.00 kills per set on a .433 attack percentage, while junior middle blocker Eric Chance is hitting .500 and putting up 1.23 blocks per set.

ABOUT LONG BEACH STATE: The Beach moved up to No. 1 this week in the AVCA Poll, collecting 22 first-place votes. Long Beach State is 6-0 to start the season, including road sweeps last weekend at then-No. 7 Loyola Chicago and No. 11 Lewis. The Beach is second nationally with a .418 team hitting percentage and sixth with 13.16 kills per set. Junior setter Josh Tuaniga controls the offense with 10.33 assists per set, the 10th-best mark in the country. Junior Kyle Ensing leads the team with 3.16 kills per set on .438 hitting, while junior TJ DeFalco averages 2.95 kills on .368 hitting and 0.53 aces per set.

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.

LAST TIME OUT: Stanford picked up its first win of the season by knocking off then-No. 14 Ball State in straight sets on the road. The Cardinal also took a set off then-No. 1 Ohio State in Columbus. Sophomore setter Paul Bischoff made his season debut after missing the opening weekend due to injury. He controlled the offense with 9.86 assists per set as the Cardinal hit .271 as a team. Freshman opposite Jaylen Jasper paced the squad with 3.71 kills per set, while redshirt senior middle blocker Kevin Rakestraw hit .520 in the two matches.

DEFENSIVE HONOR: Senior Evan Enriques was voted the MPSF Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in his career 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.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: After the opening weekend of play, Stanford ranks fifth as a team nationally with 9.68 digs per set. Individually, senior Evan Enriques is third in the nation with 3.00 digs per set, while Kevin Rakestraw is 18th with a .397 attack percentage.

ALL IN THE FAMILY: Senior libero Evan Enriques is one of four in his immediate family to currently be playing collegiate men’s volleyball. His younger brother, Emmett, is a junior libero at CSUN, while twins Addison and Avery are freshmen at Concordia and Grand Canyon, respectively.

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.

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 188-132 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).