PROVO, Utah – BYU men’s volleyball will be represented in the 2016 Olympic Games by four former Cougars.
Taylor Sander will compete with the men’s volleyball indoor squad with Mike Wall helping as an assistant coach. Additionally, Casey Patterson will pair off as part of a beach volleyball duo with Jake Gibb. Former BYU statistician Giuseppe Vinci will also be on the beach volleyball staff as a consultant coach.
Sander, a 2014 BYU graduate, will compete as one of four outside hitters on the team in his first Olympic Games.
Wall, who graduated from BYU in 2002, will coach in his first Olympics for Team USA.
Team USA qualified for the 2016 Olympics by winning the 2015 FIVB World Cup. The U.S. will first compete against Canada on Aug. 7 in Rio de Janeiro. The men last won gold in 2008 and placed fifth in 2012.
Patterson, a 2005 graduate of BYU, played setter and opposite for the Cougars. He is competing in the Olympics for the first time as well.
Vinci, who served on the BYU men's and women's volleyball staff from 2008-15, previously assisted Team USA in the 2012 Olympic Games as part of the indoor women's volleyball staff. He helped the team take home a silver medal that year.
The Patterson/Gibb duo will begin competition in pool play on Aug. 6 against a pair from Qatar.