PROVO -- The BYU men's volleyball team is ranked second behind Pepperdine in the third annual MPSF Men's Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll, receiving 105 points and five first-place votes.
"Pepperdine has the Player of the Year returning in Jonathan Winder, and they're going to be tough to beat," BYU head coach Shawn Patchell. "[The No. 2 ranking] is a compliment to us. I think a lot of respect is given to us with our returning seniors."
The Cougars finished the 2007 season with a 23-6 overall record (18-4 MPSF) and lost to UC Irvine in the MPSF Tournament semi-finals. BYU returns a pair of All-Americans in outside hitter Ivan Perez and middle blocker Russell Holmes, in addition to the 2007 National Newcomer of the Year setter Yamil Perez.
Pepperdine, which won the conference regular season last year, topped the ballots with 108 points and five first-place votes to earn the No. 1 ranking. Defending MPSF and National Champion UC Irvine was picked fourth. Following is the complete rankings from the MPSF Men's Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll.
RankTeam Points (First-Place Votes)
No. 1Pepperdine 108 points (5)
No. 2Brigham Young 105 points (5)
No. 3UCLA 104 points (1)
No. 4UC Irvine 88 points
No. 5Cal State Northridge85 points (1)
No. 6USC 68 points
No. 7Long Beach State57 points
No. 8Hawaii 51 points
No. 9Stanford 50 points
No. 10UC Santa Barbara40 points
No. 11Pacific 23 points
No. 12UC San Diego 13 points