March 8, 2010

STANFORD, Calif. - The Stanford men's volleyball program received two pieces of good news from the American Volleyball Coaches Association on Monday: the Cardinal moved to No. 1 in the Coaches' Poll, and sophomore outside hitter Brad Lawson was selected as the National Player of the Week.

Three years removed from a 3-25 season, Stanford has reached No. 1 for the first time since Feb. 6, 2001 -- a ranking the Cardinal held for only one week on its way to a No. 5 final ranking. This is Stanford's first No. 1 ranking under fourth-year coach John Kosty.

The Cardinal (12-4 overall) got 13 of 16 first-place votes. Last week's No. 1 Pepperdine received the other three votes, but dropped one spot after losing at BYU on Friday night. Stanford beat No. 14 UC San Diego and No. 6 Long Beach State in four sets apiece last weekend.

Lawson hit .453 overall in a pair of four-set victories over No. 14 UC San Diego (18 kills, .552) and No. 6 Long Beach State (16 kills, .371) at Maples Pavilion over the weekend. Lawson combined for 34 kills and only five errors in 64 attacks. He also had 13 digs, five assists, three blocks, and two service aces.

Lawson had eight kills in the decisive fourth set that allowed the Cardinal to break away from Long Beach, using an 8-1 run to open up a 19-18 score. Lawson is hitting .402 for the season and is Stanford's leader in total kills (289) and in kills per set (5.16). He also has hit over .300 in his past nine matches, eight of them Stanford victories. This is his second National Player of the Week honor of the season.

Stanford does not play again until March 20, against visiting NAIA power Cal Baptist, because of Dead Week and finals. The Cardinal (10-4 in conference), which leads the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation by a half-game over Pepperdine (9-4), but does not return to conference action until March 26 at UC San Diego. From there, Stanford must play six of its final eight conference matches on the road.