By Barry Faulkner for ucirvinesports.com

Scott Stadick has always been freakishly tall. But when it comes to growth spurts, the seven-foot senior men's volleyball star noted that his most substantial personal development has occurred during four years as a student-athlete at UC Irvine.

Despite the lack of a volleyball team at Watertown High, Stadick, nurtured by a volleyball family in which both parents and all three siblings all played collegiately, emerged from the self-described middle-of-nowhere town surrounded by cornfields to become the No. 1 prep recruit in the nation.

A spindly then-180-pound middle blocker with a garage-door wingspan, ample quickness and a sense for the game spawned by years of six-person family pepper sessions in the yard, Stadick was a coveted get for the most prestigious college programs in the land.

But UCI, coached by his brother-in-law, David Kniffin, used more than familial connection to land the future All-American, who heading into the final week of February was leading the nation in every blocking statistic, including 105 total blocks.

"For me, UCI was an obvious choice," said Stadick, who will be recognized in March as the Anteaters' Big West Conference Male Student-Athlete of the Year. "I chose Irvine over another Midwest school pretty quickly because I loved the people in the program, the spirit of the school and what it stands for. I figured out pretty quickly that my kind of personality was going to match pretty well with what they were doing here."

That personality, sometimes painfully shy and admittedly quirky while also solidly grounded and introspective, was immediately immersed into an academically challenging UCI culture surrounded by an affluent Orange County lifestyle.

"Coming from a small farm town to Orange County was culture shock for me," said Stadick, whose sister Debbie, who played at Iowa State, married Kniffin in Stadick's senior year of high school. "It was a huge learning curve and growing moment for me. College can be very scary in general and I didn't sleep much that freshman year. I was pretty busy running around with school and volleyball and trying to learn what was expected of me. It was, for me, a scary endeavor."

Stadick, who worked and played on his grandfather's bison farm in Watertown, shone early on the court, while evolving on campus and in the classroom. He was named national Freshman of the Year by  Volleyball.Mag.com and was also the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Freshman of the Year, while receiving honorable mention in All-American voting.

Clinging to dorm roommates, sister Debbie, and Kniffin, long known for his ability to build personal relationships with all his players, Stadick also began to stand tall within the UCI's heralded Paul Merage School of Business. A business administration major with an emphasis on accounting and finance, he immediately became a fixture on the dean's list.

"As a freshman, Scott was very much anchored in the kind of strong values that make him who he is," Kniffin said. "He was quiet and reserved, but in his sophomore year, you saw him getting more comfortable and being more outspoken.  All of his professors knew who he was beyond just him getting good grades. The last two years, he has not only been secure with who he is, but he has been able to share that with everybody. We like to say that before you can become the ultimate leader, you must show you can follow. Scott understands the qualities of a follower, so people have gravitated toward him."

Stadick like every member of this year's Anteaters squad, ranked No. 6 in the country through Feb. 23, has forged close relationships with his teammates.

"We are one of the most tight-knit groups I have ever played with," said Stadick, a former member of the junior national team who earned second-team All-American and first-team All-Big West Conference honors as a sophomore. "Our relationships with one another mean everything to us as a team. What we do here in the four years we have together needs to be the primary focus and the most important thing. In 30 years, you might not remember whether we won or lost, but we will still have these relationships.

"It's tough at the Division-I level to have a sense of family because there is competition with everyone fighting for spots, recognition, for everything. But this is a team that I think is truly selfless and has the best of the team in its mind in everything it does. We break every huddle after matches, practices and meetings and give each other hugs. This is your family for four years and you hug your family when you leave the room."

The UCI men's volleyball family has also benefitted from the presence of Stadick's niece, Saleh (pronounced Say-lah), the four-year-old daughter of Kniffin and Debbie who was born with Noonan Syndrome. The multi-variable disease caused by changes in one of several autosomal dominant genes will, Kniffin said, will create physical and cognitive impacts throughout Saleh's life.

Saleh, who refers to Stadick as "My Scotty boy," has bonded with the entire roster and is a valued member of the program, Stadick said. In Saleh's honor, men's volleyball will celebrate World Rare Disease Awareness Day on Feb. 28 as part of its home match at 7 p.m. against Grand Canyon University.

"Saleh was born prematurely and was just six pounds at birth," Stadick said. "She spent the first month of her life fighting for her existence and it was very touch-and-go for a while. She is just a bundle of energy and joy and she refers to all us players as her boys. She has taken to us and we have taken to her. We love her. She is always in our high-five line after matches and she gives everyone a hug after the match. She is a special kid, who is an inspiration to those around us. She has already had more to overcome in her life than we have and she is younger than all of us. If she can smile, we all can smile. She displays the kind of joy that we should all be living with all the time."

Stadick, who plans to play professionally after graduating, said he can also smile when considering his time at UCI.

"I think back to where I was my freshman year and where I am now and realize I have grown a lot personally," Stadick said, "which is pretty cool."