[November 21, 2009] Fox Chapel's Tublin signs with Stanford Tweet Nov 21, 2009 (The Valley News-Dispatch - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Most outside hitters are limited in terms of what they bring to a boys volleyball team. Sure, they attack at the net and hammer down kills to change momentum in matches. But few can handle the ball and conduct a team like a point guard. Fox Chapel's 6-foot-7 Daniel Tublin is one of the few. And Stanford picked up on that ability. An All-WPIAL player, Tublin signed a letter of intent with the pretigious Palo Alto, Calif., university last week. It is rare for a WPIAL volleyball player to sign with any, big-name Division I school, let alone Stanford. "You can't run an offense until you set the ball," said Tublin, who also had partial scholarship offers from Ohio State and Penn State and was strongly recruited by Pepperdine. "(Fox Chapel) Coach (Phil) O'Keeffe stressed that from the beginning and that always stuck with me. I owe Coach a lot for that." Tublin's passing skills, O'Keeffe said, really turned the heads of Division I coaches. "That's why he's going where he's going," O'Keeffe said. "It's rare to find a 6-7 kid with excellent footwork and very good ball-control skills." Tublin began getting Division I attention as a 6-4 sophomore. "I went to a tournament my sophomore year," said Tublin, who is affiliated with the Yorktowne club. "Coaches weren't allowed to talk to you, but they talked to my coach. At that point, I realized I might be able to play in college. But I thought it would be at a smaller school." He visited Penn State and Ohio State last year. "It kind of went from there," he said. "Stanford seemed like the best fit for me." His next coach believes Tublin can be an impact player. "He was the frame and ability to be a significant player at the net and will also help us in our serve reception and defense," Stanford coach John Kosty said on the school's Web site. Tublin is the third Division I player the Foxes have had since 2002. The others are Jim Fazzini ('02) and Nick Rivett ('06). Both went to St. Francis (Pa.). Rivett is a senior there. Initially, he committed to Cal-Santa Barbara, but things didn't work out there. "It seems to go in cycles with D-I kids here," O'Keeffe said. Tublin, who is in the top 10 percent of his class, is interested in international relations and political science. He is the opinion editor of "Fox Tales," his high school's newspaper. Bill Beckner Jr. can be reached at [email protected] or 724-224-2696. To see more of The Valley News-Dispatch or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/valleynewsdispatch/. Copyright (c) 2009, The Valley News-Dispatch, Tarentum, Pa. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]