Stanford Begins 7 Match Road Streak, Beginning With LBSU

THIS WEEK: Stanford (1-6) begins a seven-match road trip with a rematch against No. 1 Long Beach State (7-0) on Friday at 6 p.m. in Walter Pyramid.

CATCH THE CARDINAL: Friday’s match will be streamed online via BigWest.TV. The live stream and live stats links for the match can be found on the men’s volleyball schedule page on GoStanford.com.

SOCIAL MEDIA: Fans had access to unique behind-the-scenes content on the team by liking Stanford Men’s Volleyball on Facebook or following the team on Twitter (@StanfordMVB) and Instagram (@therealstanfordmvb).

ABOUT LONG BEACH STATE: Ranked No. 1 for the second-straight week, Long Beach State is 7-0 to start the season. The Beach leads the nation with a .403 team hitting percentage and is fourth with 13.14 kills per set. Junior setter Josh Tuaniga controls the offense with 10.52 assists per set, the sixth-best mark in the country. Junior Kyle Ensing leads the team with 3.27 kills per set on .428 hitting – the 10th-best output in the country. Junior TJ DeFalco averages 3.09 kills on .333 hitting and 0.46 aces per set.

LAST TIME OUT: Stanford dropped two straight set decisions at home last week to then-No. 7 CSUN and No. 1 Long Beach State. The Cardinal hit .213 as a team  and gave up 2.17 aces per set in the two matches. Fifth-year senior Kevin Rakestraw was a bright spot, hitting .571 with 17 kills and just one error combined. Freshman opposite Jaylen Jasper led the team with 3.17 kills per set.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Stanford ranks 10th as a team nationally with 9.08 digs per set (2nd – MPSF) and 19th with 12.04 kills per set (4th – MPSF). Individually, senior Evan Enriques is seventh in the nation with 2.68 digs per set, while Kevin Rakestraw is seventh with a .448 attack percentage.

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.

OFF THE BLOCK PRESEASON RECOGNITION: Stanford was one of three teams to land two players on the Off The Block/Springbak Preseason All-America teams. Senior Evan Enriques, who was the first winner of the Erik Shoji Award (2016), given to the nation’s top libero by Off The Block and a finalist for the award in 2017, was named to the first team. Fifth-year senior Kevin Rakestraw landed on the second team. Additionally, outside hitter Jordan Ewert received votes, which were collected from coaches around the nation.

2017 RECAP: Stanford finished the 2017 campaign 13-13 overall and  8-10 in the MPSF. After being picked to finish seventh by the MPSF coaches, Stanford tied for sixth and secured its ninth postseason appearance under head coach John Kosty. The Cardinal produced four all-conference selections and two AVCA All-Americans.

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 188-134 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).