Men's volleyball coach Ruben Nieves found himself on familiar ground when he was recruiting this year's freshman class.
That's because he was trying to get Jonathan Palacios to follow his older brother -- junior Josh Palacios -- to Stanford. He did, joining brothers Brad and Chris Griffith to make two sets of siblings on a roster of 16. And, until junior Andy Witt quit the team in early February, there were three pairs. Maybe volleyball runs in families: in the last three decades, 23 brothers and sisters have played on Cardinal teams.
"We feel good about the fact that so many younger siblings want to play for us," Nieves says. "We think that's a tremendous vote of confidence."
Having players who are related doesn't change much on the court, but it does help in recruiting. "For the most part, it's a huge advantage," Nieves says. "The younger sibling knows a lot about Stanford, Stanford athletics and Stanford volleyball that he wouldn't otherwise."
Despite the good genes, Stanford will have a challenging year. The Cardinal started the season in January ranked eighth in the country, but the team faces tough conference opponents ranked even higher. The first conference match ended with a 3-0 loss to No. 4 Brigham Young University.
One star is outside hitter Gabe Gardner, who is playing for the first time since transferring last year from USC. Says Nieves: "He's as good as any collegiate player in the country."
