July 30, 2011

STANFORD, Calif. - Five current and one former Stanford men's volleyball player will represent the United States at one of two major August tournaments, the FIVB Junior World Championships and the World University Games.

Three rising Stanford sophomores -- Brian Cook, Steven Irvin, Eric Mochalski -- will play at the Junior Worlds, Aug. 1-10 in Brazil.

Rising Cardinal senior All-Americans Brad Lawson and Erik Shoji join former Stanford star and 2010 collegiate National Player of the Year Kawika Shoji on the U.S. World University Games team in Shenzhen, China.

Lawson and the Shoji brothers were named to the team Friday after a week-long tryout camp.

Also, in keeping with the international summer flavor, Stanford assistant coach Ken Shibuya was the head coach of the U.S. youth national team that finished third at the Pan American Cup (under 19) in Mexicali, Mexico, on July 16.

The U.S. junior national team opens the worlds on Monday in Rio de Janeiro against Bulgaria (noon PT) and will follow with matches against Brazil (Tuesday) and Japan (Wednesday) in four-team Pool A.

The top two teams in each of the four first-round pools advance to the second round with another round-robin pool of four teams playing in Rio de Janeiro, Aug. 5-7.

The semifinal is Aug. 9, and the final Aug. 10.

The U.S. junior team is ranked ninth in the world by the FIVB and is making its fourth consecutive world championships appearance while shooting for its first-ever gold medal.