PROVO -- BYU men's volleyball coach Tom Peterson has announced the schedule for the 2006 season, which will include several trips to California and one to Hawai'i. The Cougars play in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, traditionally the top conference in NCAA men's volleyball.
"We're playing the very top teams in the country every weekend," Peterson said. "Our conference is like no other. Whoever wins the conference is expected to win the national championship. It's like playing the USCs and Notre Dames of college football every weekend."
Since BYU began playing NCAA volleyball in 1990, an MPSF team has won the title every year except 1994 and 2003. In 1994, Peterson led Penn State to the title and in 2003 Lewis defeated BYU in a five-game thriller. Lewis' title has since been vacated due to rule violations.
The Cougars will start their 2006 season with two home matches against Cal Baptist, an NAIA powerhouse, Jan. 6 and 7. The Lancers finished the 2005 season with a 25-7 record and won the NAIA National Championship. The also won the title in 2004 with a 24-3 record and were runners up in 2003. BYU and Cal Baptist split two matches in 2005, with the Lancers winning a five-game thriller in the first and the Cougars earning a sweep in the second.
From there BYU will dive into MPSF play with four more home matches against Cal State Northridge (Jan. 13 and 14) and UC Santa Barbara (Jan. 20 and 21). The Cougars split with both teams in 2005 playing on the road.
BYU will then hit the road the next week (Jan. 27 and 28) to play the UCLA Bruins, one of the Cougars' top rivals. When the Bruins visited Provo in 2005, the 2004 National Championship banner was dropped the night of the first match, a 3-1 win for BYU. UCLA came back the next night and defeated the Cougars, 3-0. The Bruins made it to the 2005 NCAA Championship Match by earning the at-large bid to make the Final Four and then defeating Penn State. UCLA lost to Pepperdine 3-2 in the final.
The Cougars will return to Provo and welcome the defending national champion Pepperdine Waves to Provo for two matches (Feb. 3 and 4). Pepperdine is the only team BYU played in 2005 it did not beat. The Cougars will stay in Provo the next weekend (Feb. 10 and 11) as well for two matches with USC.
Following the homestand with Pepperdine and USC, BYU will head back to California to take on the Tritons of UC San Diego Feb. 16 and 18. After a week off, the Cougars will play two against Stanford in Provo (Mar. 3 and 4). BYU swept USC, UCSD and Stanford in 2005.
After playing much of the first part of the season at home, the Cougars will finish the season playing 8-of-10 on the road. The first two will be against the Anteaters of UC Irvine, a team BYU swept in 2005 and where former-Cougar Steffin Rangel plays.
Following the matchup with the Anteaters, BYU will get a break from MPSF action by playing in the Long Beach Tournament, March 17 and 18, at the Pyramid of Long Beach State. The Cougars will play Rutgers-Newark and Ohio State University. The Buckeyes earned a spot in the NCAA Final Four in 2005.
"It will be nice to get a break from MPSF play but these matches won't be easy," Peterson said. "We'll still be playing two very competitive teams."
After the Long Beach Tournament, the Cougars will return to the Smith Fieldhouse to play the University of the Pacific (March 31 and April 1), their final home matches of the regular season. BYU split two matches in Stockton, Calif. with the Tigers in 2004.
From there the Cougars will wrap up the regular season with four road matches, two at Long Beach State (April 6 and 7) and two at the University of Hawai'i (April 14 and 15). BYU has developed a bit of a rivalry with the 49ers over the past two seasons. In 2004, the Cougars defeated Long Beach twice in the regular season, in the MPSF Tournament Final and in the NCAA National Title Match. The 49ers bit back in 2005, sweeping the BYU in Provo in the first meeting. The Cougars came back the next night and won in five games.
BYU had its way with Hawai'i in 2005, first defeating the Warriors at the Outrigger Tournament in Honolulu in four games and then earning back-to-back sweeps in Provo.
After finishing the 2005 season with a 20-10 overall record and 15-7 in the MPSF for a third-place finish, the Cougars will be looking to regain their championship form that earned them three national titles from 1999-2004. BYU will return five starters, including All-MPSF performers Ivan Perez, Rob Neilson and Victor Batista. Perez was also an AVCA second-team All-American. Also returning are Taylor Evans and Brian Rowley.
OF NOTE
The Smith Fieldhouse is traditionally one of the most difficult arenas to play in for visiting teams. Since 1997, BYU has compiled a home record of 120-17 (.876), including records of 11-0 in 1998, 15-1 in 1999 and 16-1 in 2004. One of the reasons the Cougars have such an advantage in the Fieldhouse is the fans. Since 1998, BYU has averaged over 2,000 fans per match and in 2005, the average was 3,251, the second highest in school history.
The Cougars own a winning record against all of their 2006 opponents except UCLA (12-24), Pepperdine (15-21) and Long Beach (13-13). BYU's record against its opponents is 209-130 (.617).