Follow
Three players who helped the United States qualify for the upcoming FIVB U-19 World Championship highlight the latest recruits who committed to Stanford.
Stanford announced last week that high school seniors Leo Henken, Jaylen Jasper, Kyler Presho-Hartung and JP Reilly have all signed National Letters of Intent to join the Cardinal beginning in 2018.
“In order for us to achieve our goals and truly compete for an NCAA Championship, we must put together successive years of top recruiting classes,” John Kosty said in a statement. “We feel that we have done that with this and recent classes. We are also constantly looking to add players that have elite international experience or come from championship programs. This group of young men fits the search criteria and then some.”
Jasper, a 6-foot-7 outside attacker and opposite from Annapolis, Maryland, led the U.S. Boys’ Youth National Team in both kills and blocks as the team won the silver medal at the U-19 NORCECA Continental Championship in June. Along with having a vertical that allows him to touch at almost 12 feet, Jasper as a sophomore was named the Maryland high school player of the year before transferring to a school that doesn’t have a boys’ volleyball program.
Persho-Hartung, a 6-foot-8 middle attacker from San Clemente, Calfironia, was the captain of the U.S. Boys’ Youth National Team and started every match at the NORCECA Continental Championship. He also is the son of longtime UC Irvine assistant coach Mark Presho and is playing up an age-level with his club volleyball team that is an annual contender for a national championship.
Reilly, a 6-foot-4 outside attacker and opposite from Los Angeles, earned all-state honors last season and helped guide his high school team to a California Southern Section championship. In addition, Reilly was a member of the U.S. Boys’ Youth National Team and was an All-Tournament Team selection at the recent USA Volleyball Boys’ Junior National Championships.
Henken, a 6-foot-5 outside attacker and opposite from St. Louis, led his high school team to back-to-back Missouri state championships. He also played club volleyball with St. Louis High Performance and was a member of the U.S. Boys’ Youth National Training Team during the summer.
“We will be losing some outside production due to graduation over the next couple of years. It was imperative for us to bring in athletes that can fill those gaps,” Kosty said. “I’m happy to say that we not only filled gaps, but also brought in talent that will impact the team for the next four years.”
Stanford finished last season in fourth place in the MPSF and narrowly missed the final at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Cardinal have multiple starters returning for the upcoming season, including Evan Enriques who won the 2016 Erik Shoji Award as the nation’s top libero.