PROVO -- The BYU men’s volleyball team has been picked to finish eighth in the 2009 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Men’s Volleyball Preseason Coaches’ Poll, announced Monday.
The Cougars, who finished the 2008 season with a 25-5 overall record, return two starters this year. Combined with seven newcomers, BYU is coming off a successful preseason—most recently winning the BYU Tournament after wins over UC Irvine, Utah Valley University and Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. The Cougars also posted wins against USC and Hawaii earlier in November.
Pepperdine and UCLA both collected 104 points along with four and two first-place votes, respectively, to split the No. 1 ranking. Long Beach State followed in third place, followed by CS Northridge in fourth. UC Irvine, a team BYU defeated in four sets on Saturday, rounds out the top five.
The top eight finishers in the conference advance to the MPSF Playoffs, in hopes of advancing to the 2009 NCAA Championship held in Provo on May 9-11.
The Cougars’ 2009 season begins Wednesday, Jan. 9 when they face Stanford in the opening round of the UC Santa Barbara E-Bar Tournament.
MPSF Preseason Poll
Rank Team Points 2008 Record
T-1 Pepperdine 104 (4) 17-11 overall; 12-10 MPSF
T-1 UCLA 104 (2) 17-14 overall; 12-10 MPSF
3 Long Beach St. 87 (2) 23-7 overall; 18-4 MPSF
4 CS Northridge 84 (2) 23-7 overall; 17-5 MPSF
5 UC Irvine 80 (1) 16-15 overall; 11-11 MPSF
6 USC 79 (1) 13-16 overall; 10-12 MPSF
7 Stanford 76 17-11 overall; 12-10 MPSF
8 BYU 70 25-5 overall; 18-4 MPSF
9 Hawaii 41 11-16 overall; 8-14 MPSF
10 UC Santa 28 10-17 overall; 7-15 MPSF
11 UC San Diego 26 10-19 overall; 6-16 MPSF
12 Pacific 13 4-24 overall; 1-21 MPSF