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Stanford fifth-year senior Kyle Dagostino earned Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Defensive Player of the Week honors twice, was an all-MPSF pick and an All-American honorable mention.
Over the past three days, Dagostino has already graduated in one sense. He played with the United States men’s senior national team in the Volleyball Nations League for its trip to Russia.
Dagostino may be the heir apparent to former Stanford All-American Erik Shoji as the Americans’ libero. Shoji, who remains the primary libero for the U.S., is widely regarded as one of the top liberos in the world.
Dagostino replaced Shoji for two of the three matches over the weekend, including Sunday’s 25-20, 22-25, 25-22, 25-17 victory over Portugal in Ufa.
“This round in Ufa is quite important for us, we can evaluate some of our young players,” American coach John Speraw said. “Right now we have some experienced players out because we gave them some rest to recover after their professional season.”
Benjamin Patch led the U.S. with 20 points on 17 kills, two blocks and an ace. Torey Delfalco added 12 kills.
“We are happy to perform a little bit better and leave with the win,” U.S. captain Taylor Sander said. “We are looking forward to France next week. I’m excited to play in Russia and think Moscow is a great city. Me and my family are excited before a new adventure.”
Dagostino came to Stanford as a setter, only becoming a full-time libero in his senior season. He registered 200 digs after recording a total of 214 over his first three years, averaging 2.08 digs per set, second in the MPSF and 17th nationally.
He’s only going to get better the longer he competes alongside Shoji and with the U.S. He still has to go through a graduation ceremony but he’s already in grad school as far as volleyball is concerned.
By Palo Alto Online Sports/FIVB
By Palo Alto Online Sports/FIVB
By Palo Alto Online Sports/FIVB