PROVO, Utah — No. 10 BYU men's volleyball is back home at the Smith Fieldhouse this weekend for two MPSF this weekend against Concordia University Irvine.
Homecoming
After six straight matches on the road, BYU is back home this weekend for the first time since Feb. 21. That six-match road trip included some diffcult tasks at No. 4 Hawai’i and hard-fought battles at No. 18 Stanford. The Cougars picked up two wins at UC Merced and Jessup. While the Cougars are 6-4 on the road, they are 8-2 at home this season.
Still Top-10
After starting of the season at No. 8 in the AVCA poll for the first five weeks of the season, the Cougars moved up a spot to No. 7 for a few weeks, but last week’s losses pushed the Cougars back to No. 10.
En-Trent-ched Offense
Senior outside hitter Trent Moser continues to lead the Cougars offensively this season with 3.45 kills per set on a .342 hitting percentage. Moser is coming off a career-high 22 kills in BYU’s five-set loss to Stanford last Saturday.
Un-Herget-able Passing
Senior setter Tyler Herget is averaging 10.29 assists per set. That mark is second-best in the MPSF and fifth-best in the nation.
Depth Contributions
The Cougars have been able to get contributions from a number of players this season, with 12 players having played 25 sets or more. That depth has come into play, helping fill in after injuries and to provide a number of viable offensive and defensive options.
Block Stars
BYU is currently 10th in the NCAA in blocks per set at 2.390. Gavin Chambers is the Cougars’ individual leader with 1.091 blocks per set and 72 total blocks this season. His blocks per set are 12th-best individually in the NCAA.
Nearing 205 Wins for Olmstead
In his 11th season with the BYU men’s volleyball program, head coach Shawn Olmstead recently hit the 200-win plateau. He is now three wins away from matching Carl McGowan for the program’s most wins for a head coach. McGowan reached those victories in 336 matches. Olmstead is currently at 284 total matches.
Getting to Know Concordia-Irvine
The Eagles are 5-12 this season. They have a top-20 win over Princeton and two MPSF wins over Menlo two weeks ago. Before the Menlo wins, CUI had dropped nine consecutive matches, winning just three sets in that stretch, which included facing No. 2 Long Beach, No. 5 UC Irvine, No. 10 UC San Diego and No. 18 Stanford. UCI is led by the duo of Christian Galoppo and Logan Whitaker on the offensive side. Paul Schulteis leads the team in aces with 22. The Eagles as a team are third in the MPSF and 15th nationally in aces per set.
Series Snapshot
BYU is currrently on a 13-match win streak against CUI, holding a 14-2 overall record. CUI’s last win was in Irvine in a five-set match in 2019. The first year the two teams faced each other was in 2017. They played twice last season in Irvine with BYU winning both meetings.
Broadcast Details
Both matches this weekend will stream live on Big Ten Plus. The matches will also be available to watch on-demand for free after 10 p.m. Mountain Time on BYUtv.org and the BYUtv App.