PROVO, Utah – No. 1 BYU men’s volleyball will begin the second half of league play against No. 14 Stanford on Friday, March 13, at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, California.
The match is set to begin at 6 p.m. PDT and will be streamed on the Stanford live stream on Pac-12.com. Stanford announced on Wednesday that the match will be closed to the general public. Additional details can be found on gostanford.com.
The Cougars (17-1, 6-0 MPSF) enter the matchup ranked No. 1 in the AVCA Coaches Poll for the first time since 2016. BYU split a pair of non-conference matches last week at then-ranked No. 1 Hawai’i to jump the Rainbow Warriors in the rankings. The Cardinal (6-11, 2-4) lost a pair of four-set matches to No. 5 Lewis this past weekend and dropped one spot in the poll to 14th.
This week’s match will be the second time BYU and Stanford will meet as both teams begin the second half of their conference schedules. The Cougars racked up a season-high 15.5 team blocks in a sweep over the Cardinal on February 29, in front of a sold-out crowd at the Smith Fieldhouse.
Having won their first six conference matches, BYU sits atop the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings. Stanford is currently tied for fifth with Concordia with a 2-4 MPSF record.
As a team, the Cougars lead the NCAA in blocks per set (2.95) and have the highest winning percentage (.944). BYU has also played the toughest schedule in the NCAA DI-II to date with a .678 cumulative opponent winning percentage. The Cougars have played a ranked opponent in 13 of their 18 matches so far this season.
Opposite hitter Gabi Garcia Fernandez continues to lead the NCAA DI-II with 5.46 points per set and .918 aces per set. The junior broke the BYU single-season aces record after scoring his 56th ace of the year last week against Hawai’i. His strong performances in the two matches against the Rainbow Warriors earned him MPSF Offensive Player of the Week and AVCA DI-II National Player of the Week.
Middle blocker Miki Jauhiainen currently averages 1.14 blocks per set to lead the MPSF and rank ninth in the country. He was named MPSF Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season after helping BYU outblock Hawai’i in consecutive matches. Setter Wil Stanley ranks third nationally and paces the conference with 10.74 assists per set.
After winning four of their first five matches this year, the Cardinal have gone 2-10 in their last 12 matches. Stanford is led by opposite hitter Jaylen Jasper and libero Justin Lui. Jasper ranks second in the conference in kills per set (4.11) while Lui is second in digs per set (2.23).