Sanford Claims NCAA Men's Volleyball Title
May 8, 2010
STANFORD, Calif.- The Stanford men's volleyball team completed its "Worst to First" journey in emphatic fashion, sweeping Penn State in the NCAA final on its home court Saturday.
Brad Lawson had 24 kills and only one hitting error to lead Stanford to a 30-25, 30-20, 30-18 victory before a home record men's volleyball crowd of 6,635 at Maples Pavilion.
Lawson's .821 hitting percentage came on 28 attacks, and his only error was on an apparent kill that was nullified when his foot was on the line for a backrow attack violation.
Lawson and National Player of the Year Kawika Shoji were named co-Most Outstanding Players of the tournament. Shoji had 47 assists, 10 digs and three blocks.
Stanford hit a scintillating .495, with Spencer McLachlin pounding 12 kills and Evan Romero 11. Erik Shoji had 10 digs and joined his brother, Lawson, and Romero on the all-tournament.
The title was the first for the program since 1997 and second overall, and it came only three years after the current senior class struggled through a 3-25 season as freshmen. But inspired by late assistant coach Al Roderigues, who convinced them that by the time they graduated, they would indeed go "Worst to First."
Stanford did indeed, and extended a streak of 34 consecutive years that Stanford has won a national championship in any sport.
Much like it did in Thursday's semifinal against Ohio State, Stanford broke away late in what had been a tight first set, when a Penn State attack error broke a 19-19 tie and created the opening for a deciding 5-1 run. An Evan Romero ace pushed the momentum along and finished it off with a set-point kill.
But the story in the first set was the near-perfect hitting of Lawson, who had eight kills and no errors in nine attacks for an .889 hitting percentage.
Lawson continued his torrid hitting in the second set, matching his first-set totals and giving him 16 kills in 18 attacks, with no errors (.889) to that point. The difference was that Stanford was forced to play from a 10-5 deficit. Stanford caught and passed the Nittany Lions with a four-point run for a 17-15 lead. Lawson and Romero each had kills in the run and the Cardinal never let up, winning the set going away.
Unlike the first two, Stanford blasted to an early lead, and the match turned into a clinic, ending appropriately with an Erik Shoji dig, followed by a Kawika Shoji crosscourt set, and Lawson kill.
And that was it. Bedlam.