The previous three summers senior Matt Ceran had gone home to his native Los Angeles and worked at a beach volleyball camp, hoping to both help young players sharpen their game and maintain his own.

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Stanford’s lone senior, Matt Ceran, has focused on leading his teammates by setting a positive example on and off the court. His efforts have the No. 6 Cardinal riding high on a 4-1 start to its season.

But last summer, he decided to do something a little different. Ceran stayed in Palo Alto to pursue a different interest in the biggest off-court arena on the planet — the Earth itself.

“There is so much going on the world that needs to be addressed,” Ceran said. “I have always wanted to do something that provides a tangible benefit to humanity. And the environment, it’s so important to conserve [...] because it has such an impact on human health, poverty and general prosperity.”

Ceran commuted to San Francisco daily as an intern at an eco-friendly plastic recycling company. He helped develop tools that measured the volume of input plastic compared to output plastic in different parts of the recycling process in order to assess the levels of efficiency of those parts. He communicated and worked closely with the Chief Executive Officer to incorporate improvements.

After work he would concentrate on volleyball. Three days a week, he met with a trainer to lift weights and work out for an hour. One day a week he played in a local volleyball night league, alongside a hodgepodge mix of Stanford alumni, Silicon Valley businessmen, and local high schoolers.

But how did it all begin? The story of the environmentalist by day, athlete by night has its roots in West Los Angeles, one of the most culturally and socially diverse areas in the country. When he was five, his parents adopted his younger sister, Emily, as an infant from South Korea. Despite the difference in age and gender, Matt and Emily were, and still are, “best friends.” He is quick to brag about her at length.

“She’s a great soccer player — she was one of the few freshmen on varsity and the only freshman to make it to first-team all league,” he glowed. “She also excels academically and is really dedicated to community service. I’m really proud of her.”

Growing up, Matt was quite the Renaissance man. He played piano until he was about 12 and played Little League baseball until he was 12 as well. As a pitcher, Ceran led his league in strikeouts two years in a row. He played travel soccer and football in middle school, but not for long as, in his own words, he “was not very good at it.”

In eighth grade, a friend named Danny introduced him to volleyball. The two practiced daily in Danny’s narrow hallway, making dents in the wall and knocking over picture frames. “Danny’s mom was cool with it, though, because we were getting better. She took a hit for us . . . the hallway was never the same after that,” he laughed.

Ceran eventually outgrew his friend’s hallway and started playing competitive club volleyball. His club, the Southern California Volleyball Club, went to the national championships — the Junior Olympics — three times during his time there. When he was 16, they went undefeated on the season, only to suffer their first and last loss in nationals. When he was 17 and again when he was 18, his club went to nationals and won.

After Junior Olympics his junior year, Ceran began hearing from college coaches. To his excitement, many offered him official visits to their schools. And it was this path that eventually led him to Stanford.

“The academics, especially the student services, are amazing. The people in the Earth Systems — my major — Department, Deana and Emily, among others, definitely deserve recognition: they sit with me for hours helping me pick and schedule courses, they give me advice; they’re very supportive of my volleyball career, and as busy as they are, they even make it to many of my games.”

And the Stanford staff is far from the only strand of Matt’s support system. His parents supported his passion for volleyball as soon as he started playing, though both worked full time — his father as a lawyer in Downtown L.A., and his mother as a public school psychologist in Santa Monica. Despite their busy schedules, one of his parents always managed to make it to his club games, whether they were in the South Bay, Long Beach or Orange County.

Back at school Ceran credits his coaches — John Kosty (head coach), Ken Shibuya (assistant coach) and Al Roderigues (assistant coach) — for helping him develop both as a person and as a player. His teammates are always there for him, both in good times and in bad. His girlfriend of one year never misses a game.

And though he seems hesitant to talk about it, Matt has achieved quite a bit on his own as well. Last year as an outside hitter he led the team in blocks and block assists. This year, in the same position, he leads the team in kills per game, his best so far 22 against Alberta. Two weeks ago he was named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Co-Player of the Week, and just last week he was Stanford’s Muscle Milk Student-Athlete of the Week. As the team’s only true senior, he has led the Cardinal to its best start in six years.

At six-foot-six, often sporting Nike warm-up or practice gear going to or from the gym, Matt Ceran looks like a volleyball player. But with such a modest, natural charm and genuinely friendly disposition, you probably wouldn’t guess that he is one of the best players in the MPSF. And he would be the last person in the world to tell you that.