Photo: Stanford Athletics 2009Tom FitzGerald, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, January 15, 2010
Kawika Shoji's school-record 1,394 assists helped Stanfor... Erik Shoji set an unofficial national record with 447 dig... Erik (left) and Kawika Shoji excelled in other sports too. Senior Kawika Shoji has been credited by coach John Kosty...
The living room volleyball matches in the Shoji household were ferocious. Kawika Shoji, 5, and his brother, Erik, 3, played with a balloon instead of a ball, but they were still diving and rolling around.
Somehow nothing got broken, according to their mother, Mary. "We cleared out the room and made it kid-friendly," she said.
A line would be drawn in the carpet, and the boys would go at it. "We were really competitive," Erik said. "Our dad would show us how to hold our hands."
Their dad showed them a lot about the game over the years. Dave Shoji, 63, has been coach of the University of Hawaii women's team for 35 years, winning four national titles. He took his team to the Final Four in December and was named national Coach of the Year.
His boys have left their mark on the college game, too. Both were first-team All-Americans at Stanford last year, and this season they hope to lead the Cardinal to the school's second national title.
It's been 13 years since the first one, but don't count Stanford out this time. It's ranked third in the nation going into this weekend's season-opening action against Hawaii (7 p.m. matches tonight and tomorrow at Maples Pavilion). As an extra incentive, the Final Four will be played at Stanford for the first time May 6-8.
Photo: Stanford Athletics 2009Kawika, a 6-foot-3 senior setter, posted a school-record 1,394 assists last season and led the Cardinal to a .305 hitting percentage, one of the best in the country. Stanford had a 3-25 record when he was a freshman but improved to 17-11 and 21-11 the next two seasons.
"He earned the respect of coaches around the country by leading the Stanford program back to national prominence," coach John Kosty said. "He's been the core guy to get this program turned around. We've been able to recruit talented players around him, but he makes the whole thing work."
Photo: Stanford Athletics 2009Erik, a 6-foot sophomore, is the libero, a defensive specialist whose position was added to the international game in 1998. The NCAA adopted it four years later. His job is to keep the ball alive even after it has been pounded toward him at 75 mph. As a freshman last year, he set an unofficial national record with 447 digs, a feat that Kosty calls "staggering."
During a tough match at UC San Diego last season, Erik made a play that became a sensation on YouTube as well as in volleyball circles. He and right back Evan Romero dived for a ball, and Romero flipped it up. There was only one way for Erik to save it: He kicked it up in the air with his right foot. Amazingly, it was a perfect set to teammate Brad Lawson for the kill.
The move made the Top 10 Plays on ESPN's "SportsCenter." Kosty credits Erik's nifty footwork with providing the team a huge emotional lift in the third set of a four-set win. "It was phenomenal." He said he's never seen anything like it on a volleyball court and "maybe never will."
It was luck, Erik said. To which, Kawika (pronounced Ka-VEE-ka) responds, "It was a lucky play, but he would be the one to accomplish it because of his court awareness and the way he reacts. I wasn't surprised that he could pull off a play like that."
Both Shojis excelled in other sports in Hawaii. Kawika was state prep basketball player of the year as a senior at Iolani School and an excellent junior golfer. Erik sharpened his reflexes playing on Hawaii's top doubles tennis team at Punahou School; his volleyball schedule reduced his tennis practice time, limiting him to doubles. The brothers also became proficient at pingpong.
"I wanted them to have other sports in their life," Dave Shoji said. "I wasn't sure they'd be college (volleyball) stars, but at an early age they had ball control beyond their years. They grew up in the gym. They had the hand-eye coordination."
He and Mary, a former UH basketball player who is taking a leave of absence from her teaching job at Punahou, plan to attend 80 percent of their sons' matches this season.
"This is Kawika's senior year, so it may be their last chance to play together," Mary said.
Their daughter, Cobey, is director of operations for the Stanford women's volleyball team. Having them all at Stanford, Mary said, "has been a gift for them and for us as a family."
E-mail Tom FitzGerald at tfitzgerald@sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/15/SP4J1BH8S2.DTL
This article appeared on page B - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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