Fifth-year senior Wil Stanley key to No. 2 BYU volleyball’s 2-year run to Saturday’s NCAA title match
PROVO – On the pitch, Wil Stanley is possibly the top offense for the BYU men’s secondary volleyball team.
The team’s quarterback, the 6-foot-4-setter from Honolulu, is responsible for setting up every spike, kill, and slam for a group that includes all-American hitters Gabi Garcia Fernandez and mid-blockers Felipe de Brito Ferreira and Miki Jauhiainen belong.
If it’s an attack, Stanley will likely have to lead it.
But last year, the spirit of Aloha senior was asked to do an even greater job – one that had very little to do with sentences, bumps, and spikes.
Stanley was one of three seniors whose final season was abruptly canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic, which shut down college sports in the middle of the spring season and abruptly canceled all remaining championships for the 2019-20 winter and spring seasons.
Most notable on the list was the 2020 NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Perhaps more notable for BYU fans was the end of the men’s volleyball tournament, where the Cougars were likely to fight for their fourth national championship.
Throughout the ordering process at home and after all public activity in Provo ceased, Stanley had a decision to make. Should he quit his career, quit his studies and take advantage of more lucrative career opportunities in overseas volleyball leagues? Or should he put it all on hold, come back for another year and bring Zach Eschenberg and Jauhiainen along with natural seniors like Ferreira and Garcia Fernandez to “run back” and “finish what they started”?
“Be where you are. Be where your feet are.” @BYUvolleyball knows the importance of staying in the moment. # BYUSN # BYUVolleyballpic.twitter.com / qP5Jg6iBIF
– BYU Sports Nation (@BYUSportsNation) May 7, 2021
Despite the challenges of college volleyball – where scholarships are not incremental and are often divided into thirds and quarters of the roster – the answer was pretty straightforward. Stanley had made up his mind before he could officially decide when the NCAA allowed players to return for a free season of eligibility.
He tweeted about it. He went on BYUtv and shot it over the air waves. He spoke about it in follow-up interviews with local media and told everyone who would hear it.
Stanley came back. And the rest soon followed.
“Once the green light is given, I’m pretty sure I said yes to Shawn (Olmstead, BYU head coach) before he could ask the question,” said Stanley, the senior with 765 assists, 115 digs and 51 blocks in Year 2021. “I just wanted to come back and play with the guys and sit here on this court. It was a pretty easy decision for me.”
Stanley will lead BYU No. 2 into Saturday’s NCAA championship of men’s volleyball tournaments against Hawaii (6:00 p.m. MDT, ESPNU), a rematch of the last series split a year ago in Stanley’s hometown in the islands. at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The Cougars and Rainbow Warriors were on a collision course a year ago. After more than 365 days and a global pandemic, this weekend will end the job.
“The championship was canceled, but BYU and Hawaii were No. 1 and No. 2. We are in a position to finalize the deal,” said Ferreira, the Cougars’ top blocker, who averaged 1.25 items per set Has. “It’s been a lot of hard work for two years. Now we finally have the chance to make this final. Hawaii are a great team. We look forward to playing them and I can’t wait. We have prepared. ” We studied it too – and I think it’s going to be a great time. “
BYU setter Wil Stanley sets a pass for his teammates during the semifinals of the NCAA Cougars vs. Lewis tournament on Thursday, May 6, 2021 in Columbus, Ohio. BYU reached the title match with a 3-1 win over the Flyers. (Photo: Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo)
At the center of the run was Stanley, who has a Jedi-like quality to balance the Cougars’ offensive since he came on stage as a freshman in 2017, Jauhiainen, arguably the smartest player on the team and a two-time NCAA Elite 90 award winner the highest GPA in the country – an award he received while studying computer science.
Before either of them can touch the ball, Stanley must give him his blessing.
“Balance is very important in volleyball and I think Wil did a phenomenal job, especially distributing the ball,” said Ferreira. “It makes it unpredictable for a blocker.
“For me as a middle blocker, a setter who does this makes the game so much more difficult to read. Sometimes he drops it too; it’s a great key to our game.”
To get to this point of the season, BYU had to go through a lot – and not just practice and play.
Through bans, regular testing for the virus, and a conference-only schedule that culminated in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation’s regular season and tournament title, the Cougars reached Columbus – home of the seven-team NCAA tournament – where they finished second BYU held third-placed Lewis 3-1 in the semi-finals on Thursday evening.
But before that, Olmstead had to have a few conversations with his seniors – and first and foremost was Stanley, whose immediate answer to that first official call was “natural.”
Another year of sacrifice, college, and play in the middle of the pandemic was a small price to pay to run for a national title, possibly BYU’s first since the third time in six years with the 2004 championship.
“They put their lives on hold,” said Olmstead. “You could say they put their careers on hold. It was pretty special that we had seniors to do that, as did other schools across the country. Not all of them did … but our administration did has supported the great without hesitation. “
The decision was easy for Stanley, whose father Jon played volleyball and basketball at BYU prior to a career that included a place on the 1968 Olympic team. BYU volleyball is in his blood – even from his older brother Clay, a former All-American in Hawaii, who represented Team USA himself at three Olympic Games, to his younger brother Jon, a second year specialist and probably the one most popular reserve in the team.
Playing with his family for another year – both literally and figuratively – was an easy decision for Wil Stanley.
“Jon will be our X-Factor,” he said. “It was yesterday and I think it will be tomorrow.”
NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship
Saturday May 7th
Serve first: 6 p.m. MDT
TV: ESPNU
Streaming: WatchESPN
Series history: BYU leads, 42-22
Last meeting: Hawaii won 3-2 in Honolulu, Hawaii
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