Feb. 24, 2012

STANFORD, Calif. - It took a while, but the No. 1 Stanford men’s volleyball team finally plays its conference home-opening weekend, taking on No. 10 Pepperdine on Friday and No. 6 USC on Saturday at Maples Pavilion in a pair of 7 p.m. matches.

Making the weekend series even bigger is that the Cardinal was promoted to No. 1 this week in both polls – it’s first No. 1 ranking since winning the 2010 NCAA title – and comes home after playing 10 consecutive matches on the road.

The Cardinal (11-2 overall, 8-1 MPSF) is in a virtual tie for first in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation with UCLA (9-1) and has a favorable schedule from this point forward, with 11 of its final 13 regular-season matches at home.

This Week:
Friday: No. 10 Pepperdine (7-5, 5-4) at No. 1 Stanford (11-2, 8-1)
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Saturday: No. 6 USC (7-4, 5-4) at Stanford
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No. 1: Stanford moved up to No. 1 in both the AVCA and Volleyball Magazine polls this week following road victories over No. 2 UC Irvine and unranked UC San Diego last week, combined with No. 1 UCLA's loss at Long Beach State.

Stanford, which was No. 4 in the AVCA and No. 3 by Volleyball Magazine, received eight of 16 first-place votes. The others went to No. 2 UCLA (six votes), No. 4 UC Irvine (one) and No. 5 Penn State (one).

Stanford has been ranked as high as No. 2 this season, and this is its first No. 1 ranking since finishing on top with an NCAA championship in 2010. This is Stanford's 23rd No. 1 ranking.

The MPSF Race: First-place UCLA (9-1) does not have a conference match this week, which enables Stanford (8-1) to bolt into sole possession of first with a weekend sweep. The MPSF race seems to be beginning to break up, though three teams – UCLA, Stanford, and BYU (6-2) – remain within a match of each other in the loss column on top of the standings. Stanford has only one remaining match against either of those two contenders, and that’s a regular-season finale against visiting UCLA.

What It Means: Not only are teams vying for top seeds in the eight-team MPSF tournament (April 21-28), which determines the conference’s lone automatic berth to the NCAA tournament, but are attempting to get an edge on other at-large contenders should another team win the MPSF tournament.

Latest Home Conference Opener: Friday’s Pepperdine match marks the latest conference home opener ever for Stanford, which played its first nine MPSF matches on the road. The previous distinction was held by the 1980 team, which didn’t play its first conference home match until Feb. 20 against Cal. That was when both schools were in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Association.

Road Warriors: Stanford has just completed a 10-match, 40-day stretch away from home. The Cardinal went 8-2 during the series of trips and covered more than 7,600 miles. The trip included victories at then-No. 1 BYU (twice), then-No. 2 UC Irvine, and defending NCAA champion Ohio State.

Homecourt Advantage: No other MPSF team has endured the travels as Stanford. Here is how Stanford ranks according to the fewest number of home conference matches so far:

1, Stanford (0); 2 (tie), Cal State Northridge and Pacific (3 each); 4 (tie), BYU, UCLA, and UC Santa Barbara (4 each); 7 (tie), Long Beach State and USC (5 each); 9 (tie), Hawai’i, Pepperdine, and UC San Diego (6 each); 12, UC Irvine (8).

Stanford in statistical rankings: Senior setter Evan Barry leads the nation in assists per set at 12.26, which is significantly higher than the second place figure of 11.82 by Penn State’s Edgardo Goas. Senior libero Erik Shoji is second in digs per set at 2.84, behind Efrain Negron of Lees-McRae (3.21). Sophomore outside hitter Brian Cook is ninth in hitting percentage at .369.

As a team, The Cardinal leads the nation in assists per set (13.43) and kills per set (14.10). Stanford is second in hitting percentage, with .365, behind only Penn State’s .374.

Player of the Week: Stanford senior setter Evan Barry was named MPSF Player of the Week for his role in leading the Cardinal to road victories over No. 2 UC Irvine and unranked UC San Diego last weekend. Barry, from Del Mar, Calif., set Stanford to a combined hitting percentage of .459, and had 92 assists, 10 digs and five blocks in the two matches to capture the weekly honor, sponsored by Molten.

Friday’s Opponent, Pepperdine: The Waves are led by Maurice Torres, a junior opposite who needs 39 more kills to reach 1,000 for his career. Pepperdine had a five-match winning streak early in the season, but has since lost three of four and is tied for fifth in the MPSF at 5-4 (7-5 overall). Marv Dunphy is in his 29th season as Pepperdine’s coach and has a career record of 525-219.

The Pepperdine Series: Pepperdine leads the all-time series against Stanford, 48-18. However, the Cardinal has won four of their past five meetings, including both matches last season. It was Stanford’s first season sweep of the Waves since 1997.

Saturday’s Opponent, USC: The Trojans (7-4, 5-4) lost AVCA Player of the Year Murphy Troy to graduation from a team that was ranked No. 1 most of last season before losing in the NCAA semifinals to UC Santa Barbara. Senior outside hitter Tony Ciarelli, a beach partner with Stanford’s Evan Barry at the junior world championships in Turkey in 2011, is a returning AVCA second team All-America. Six-foot-8 freshman middle blocker Robert Feathers leads the nation in blocks per set (1.77).

The USC Series: USC holds a 57-27 all-time series lead over Stanford and beat the Cardinal in both meetings last season. The Trojans have won three of the past four at Stanford.