The seeds of Kerri Walsh's Stanford volleyball career were planted in 1989 when the Scotts Valley, Calif., sixth-grader came to the Farm for a summer volleyball camp. Already 5 feet 6 inches tall, Walsh would eventually top out at 6 feet 2 -- and play a pivotal role in leading the Cardinal to NCAA championships her freshman and sophomore years. She seemed to be on her way to a flawless college career.
Not so fast. Now a junior, Walsh faced difficulties this season when a shoulder that never recovered after rotator-cuff surgery in February 1998 made hitting painful. "I was never 100 percent throughout the whole season," she says. Add to that the loss of five senior teammates the year before, and it's clear why the women struggled. Though they won the Pac-10 title, they lost to Texas in the NCAA regional semifinals in December. It was the first time since 1993 that the Cardinal had been eliminated so early.
The focus now is next year, and for Walsh that includes hopes of an NCAA championship and a shot at playing in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. In addition to Walsh, the team will look to new players -- like Lindsey Yamasaki, a two-sport athlete who sat out this year to concentrate on basketball -- to lead the team back to the championship.
Two recruits who signed letters of intent in February should add to that strength. Logan Tom is the only high school member of the National Team and one of the most sought-after players in the country. Ashley Ivy, a top recruit out of Texas, played with Yamasaki and Tom on the 1998 U.S. Junior National Team.
Stanford has a strong history to build on. The Cardinal has four NCAA crowns overall (1992, 1994, 1996, 1997) and 51 postseason wins, more than anyone else. The team, which finished 27-4 in 1998, has never had a losing season. Until the loss to Texas, no player on the roster had ever played in an NCAA tournament loss.
Walsh's individual record is impressive, too: in December, she was named a first-team All-American for the third straight time, she was the Pac-10 player of the year and she took conference player of the week honors twice this season. Even injured, Walsh moved up to third place on the list of Stanford's most accurate single-season hitters, with a mark of .379. Sounds like a one-woman volleyball camp.
