Author: Claudia Preciado

Romero now a record-breaking star despite late start in the sport

The people that we call Stanford Division I athletes generally have one thing in common: they’ve all been playing their sport for most of their lives. They didn’t just pick it up and somehow become amazingly talented in the sport. But then there’s Evan Romero.

While most of his teammates come from volleyball families where they were given volleyballs as soon as they could run around, Romero’s career started a little later. His sophomore year of high school, his basketball coach, also the volleyball coach, approached him about playing on the team.

Romero said yes.

“I liked playing volleyball; it was fun. That’s where I started off,” Romero said. “I learned how to hit and pass somewhat. From there, I kind of blossomed a little bit.”

Playing with his high school team highlighted a slightly different chapter in his volleyball career — while he still plays with a different set of his closest friends, the Taco Bell runs and hang out sessions are memories from the beginning of his career.

“We had some upset wins and it was just fun hanging out with the guys all the time. It was a good time playing with them,” Romero said.

After a few phone calls to coach John Kosty, Romero became Stanford-bound, with more nerves than any of his teammates.

“I was most afraid that I had nowhere near the level of experience that everyone on the team had,” Romero said. “I was hoping that I’d be able to learn quickly and be able to contribute to the team.”

“I had some growing pains definitely. I didn’t exactly play too well my first two years, but the coaches have been phenomenal. They’ve been really supportive and they’ve taught me a lot in a short amount of time.”

Among the many skills and techniques he has picked up while playing here, Romero learned that sometimes, brain does beat brawn.

“When you get comfortable with the game, and in my case, you learn you don’t have to hit as hard as you can every time,” Romero said. “You have to hit some smart shots. I learned from my teammates like Spencer [McLachlin], who always does that.”

While experience is the biggest skill he has acquired over the years, his teammates — including Ed Howell, Jason Palacios, Garrett Werner and Kawika Shoji — have all helped him with technique.

This experience and technique led Romero to break the school record for career kills with 1,295 last year. Moreover, he has been the leader in kills on the team for the past three years as well. However, this offensive powerhouse radiates humility when asked about his leading numbers.

“With Spencer [McLachlin] and Brad [Lawson] on the outside, our middles are playing well with Garrett [Werner] and Gus [Ellis], I’m just one of the parts of the team,” Romero said. “I love it. Our team is doing well. If our team is doing well, I’m happy with it.”

Of his many stellar kill nights, the match that stands out most for him is the home match against UC-Irvine of the 2008 season.

“It was my favorite game because Irvine was a very good team and it was the first time all our friends from the water polo team and soccer team came out in costume to support us,” Romero said. “From then, it’s grown into a big group of guys coming out in costume.”

Alongside the appreciation Romero has for his friends’ costumes, the most remarkable aspect of this senior Mechanical Science & Engineering major is the amount of time he dedicates to volleyball.

“It’s pretty amazing to see that 25-30 hours are dedicated to your sport that you could have to do work or relax. In the end, it’s 100 percent worth it,” Romero said. “We love what we do and we want to spend 30 more hours playing volleyball.”

As Romero checks into his last season of volleyball and his last five months left at Stanford, he strives to reach his goals of playing better volleyball, hanging out with friends more often and simply enjoying the life of an undergraduate as much as possible.

Stanford men’s volleyball travels to Provo to take on BYU

After opening with a successful weekend sweep of No. 8 Hawaii, the No. 3 Stanford men’s volleyball team travels to Utah to face No. 5 BYU for another weekend of challenging Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) competition.

“We executed pretty well on offense and defense,” said Stanford head coach John Kosty of the Hawaii matches. “It was good for us not having to rely on a big serving night to win the match. We did have a big serving night, but we sided out at a high level in both matches, so serving was icing on the cake.”

While the Cardinal swept Hawaii over the weekend, BYU swept its two matches against Pacific.

During BYU’s home opener on Friday, outside hitters Andrew Stewart and Kevin Sagers led the Cougars offensively with nine kills each. BYU’s biggest advantage came from powerful middle blockers that rallied 18 blocks for the night, led by Russell Lavaja and Futi Tavana, who each put up seven. The following night, BYU’s offensive leaders Robb Stowell and Stewart hit 13 and 10 kills, respectively. The Cougars swept Pacific both nights 3-0.

BYU features a strong team that faced three other MPSF teams already — No. 2 UC-Irvine, No. 8 UCLA and No. 9 Cal State Northridge. While it was only tournament play, BYU pulled out wins over Irvine, the defending national champions and UCLA. However, the Cougars fell to Northridge.

Kosty expects it to be “a dog fight.”

Last year, Stanford beat BYU two of the three times they matched up. The loss was the result of a five-set thriller and the two wins were 3-0 sweeps. But, another year adds more experience and consistency.

“Both teams are very consistent and don’t make a lot of unforced errors,” Kosty said. “As usual for men’s volleyball, the serving and passing battle will probably decide the match.”

With sophomore libero Erik Shoji on the Stanford side, who racked up 20 digs last weekend, the passing is expected to be solid. Shoji is the defensive leader for the Card and has put up numbers to blow away any national competition.

“I think our biggest strength at this point is our ball control,” Shoji said. “Each match, we try to force our opponent into the mistakes by not making them ourselves. Also, we try to be ‘in-system’ as much as possible, which makes it more difficult for our opponents to stop us.”

And, as Kosty mentioned, the serving game will be one of the defining factors of the match. Last weekend, the Card was fortunate enough not to have to depend on its serves. Even still, sophomore outside hitter Brad Lawson dominated with five aces of the 10.

Although Stanford has a stacked lineup that is senior-led by setter Kawika Shoji, opposite Evan Romero and middle blocker Garrett Werner, playing the first away match of the season at BYU has its challenges.

“The best thing about BYU is their crowd. There are a lot of them and they can be loud,” Werner said. “The gym’s a lot of fun to play in because the crowd surrounds you. When you go back to serve . . . [they are] pretty much breathing down your neck behind you.”

BYU continuously brings in thousands of fans, which might be a slight disadvantage if the Card begins to lose focus.

“Even with an opposing crowd, I think our focus will be even stronger, since we’ll only want to concentrate on our play and not their fans,” Werner said.

Despite outside factors, Stanford should match up evenly against BYU, as both teams boast similar styles of play, which reinforces the need for good serving and passing. Both teams are strong offensively and are capable of tough defense.

This weekend will be another important series in deciding where the Cardinal will stand in the MPSF.

Men’s volleyball will return home on Jan. 23 in Burnham Pavilion to play UC-Santa Barbara at 7 p.m.

The No. 3 Stanford men’s volleyball team kicks off its Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) season this weekend when it hosts No. 8 Hawaii.

Hawaii is coming off a successful weekend at the Outriggers Hotel Invitational, which it hosted. The Warriors swept No. 10 Ohio State, lost in five sets to No. 5 Penn State and knocked off No. 1 USC in

four sets.

“They’re good. They’re a better team than [their ranking],” said head coach John Kosty. “I think they’re definitely in the top half of this league.”

The team’s strongest player is outside hitter Joshua Walker, who claimed the MPSF Molten Player of the Week after the tournament and was similarly named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

Apart from Walker, the Warriors also boast a number of offensive weapons, such as Gus Tuaniga, Steven Hunt and Jonas Umlauft.

“They’re a solid team and it’s going to be a battle,” Kosty said. “Hawaii is not going to be an easy team.”

Against a team like Hawaii, the middle blockers will be the key line of defense — and even with the loss of Brandon Williams, Stanford is definitely up for the challenge.

Returning starter senior Garrett Werner has held onto the middle blocker position for the past two years. As a freshman, Werner came in second on the team with 72 blocks and second in hits with 97 kills. As a sophomore, Werner clinched a five-set win over Hawaii with a solo block. He also had a thrilling performance against UCLA with seven blocks. Alongside Werner, sophomore Gus Ellis will be taking sets in the middle from senior setter Kawika Shoji.

“I think our middles have vastly improved offensively from last year so that gives us another threat that we needed last year,” Kosty said. “I think this year we’ll get that consistently.”

With blocking as the team’s first line of defense, the second line of defense comes in the form of sophomore libero Erik Shoji.

“Erik was the best defender last year in the country and we were the best defensive team in the country last year,” Kosty said. “I think our ball control and passing for our offensive game is one of our biggest strengths.”

Good blocking and good passing will be essential for the Cardinal against the stacked Hawaii team this weekend.

Stanford swept both meetings with the Warriors last year in Hawaii, led by Kawika Shoji’s 49 assists and outside hitter Evan Romero’s 21 kills.

“They’re very talented. They’re going to be a tough first opponent,” Kawika said. “It’s going to be an exciting first two matches for us.”

Stanford needs to come out strong to start off conference play because the MPSF is by far the most competitive conference in the country.

“Although the level of competition in the MPSF was very high last year, it is shaping up to be even higher this year,” Ellis said. “More importantly than anything else, we will need to play at the highest level possible for every game of every match if we are going to accomplish our ultimate goal.”

The ultimate goal is always a national championship and with a strong team of experienced players with great chemistry, Stanford has its hopes set on being in the mix.

The Cardinal takes on the Warriors tonight and Saturday night. Both matches tip off at 7 p.m. at Maples Pavilion.

While the Cardinal produced one of its most successful seasons since 1997, finishing in fourth place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) and sixth nationally, the team met an abrupt ending against USC in the first round of finals.

Now, Stanford is ranked No. 3 in the coaches’ poll as well as in the MPSF, behind No. 1 USC and the defending national champions, No. 2 UC-Irvine. Last season, the Card went 21-11 only to finish with a five-set loss against USC in MPSF playoffs.

“We went up 2-0 and it was disappointing that we lost that match in five,” said head coach John Kosty. “We thought we had our opportunity to go deep into the tournament and maybe end in the national championships.”

However, the attitude heading into this season thus far has been tremendously influenced by last season’s highlights including libero Erik Shoji’s kick set that appeared on ESPN and YouTube with over 250,000 views. Similarly, the team experienced “late match heroics” in Long Beach “by pancaking a ball” for the win, according to Kosty.

Last season, the team also bid farewell to starting middle blocker Brandon Williams. His position will be filled by Gus Ellis, Charley Henrikson and Max Halvorson.

“I think Brandon is a tough guy to replace, but Gus Ellis got a lot of playing time last year so he’ll fill in nicely,” senior setter Kawika Shoji said.

With the main hit to the roster coming from the graduated middle blocker, the Card returns six of its seven starters, including first team All-American brothers Kawika and Erik Shoji.

The brothers are the first duo from Stanford awarded All-American honors since 1993.

“[Erik] helps me out because he passes me the ball,” Kawika said. “I tell everyone he makes me look good. He makes my job a lot easier.”

The Shoji brothers have brought much success to the program, including a pair of school records. Kawika set the bar for assists in a single season at 1,394, while Erik eclipsed the national record with 447 digs in a single season.

Aside from the Shoji brothers, the Card returns its best hitter, senior opposite Evan Romero, who holds the Stanford record for most career kills at 1,295. Last year was Romero’s third straight season leading the Card’s offensive attack, averaging 4.33 kills per set.

“We’re senior-led in team with a junior and a couple of sophomores thrown in and that gives us a definite advantage over a lot of teams,” Kosty said. “We’re striving to be even better than we were last year.”

This coming season remains a chance to prove to the volleyball world just what the Cardinal is made of. Though last season remains a successful season in Stanford history, the team expected a longer run into the MPSF playoffs. This season holds its own set of expectations as well.

“I know that I can speak for everyone on the team when I say that our expectations for this season are very high,” Ellis said. “With almost all of our starters returning, strong senior leadership and a refined work ethic, we are looking forward to a great season and hopefully we will be ending it with a final match in Maples Pavilion for the NCAA title.”

All of these qualities will be tested as the season gets underway as the Card hosts its first opponent, University of Hawaii. Hawaii exhibits a challenging team, especially with 6-foot-9 opposite hitter Jonas Umlauft, 6-foot-5 outside hitter Steven Hunt and 6-foot-3 outside hitter Gus Tuaniga.

Hawaii will be the initial test of where Stanford stands in the MPSF.

“We need to prove that we can go deeper into the MPSF tournament,” Kosty said. “We need to prove our consistency and be ranked higher all season long. Our team is ready. We filled all of our holes. We’re ready to go after it.”

This month starts off the MPSF excitement and the team hopes to continue making its journey toward the NCAA championships in the spring here at Stanford.

Support the Card as they take on Hawaii on Jan. 15 in Maples Pavilion and Jan. 16 in Burnham Pavilion. First serves are at 7 p.m.

This weekend, however, the team will be playing in an alumni match on Saturday in Maples Pavilion that will feature graduates from 1990 to 2009. The match will commence at 8 p.m.