Four Cougars earn All-MPSF awards

PROVO, Utah—Four BYU men’s volleyball players received conference honors Thursday, with Taylor Sander receiving Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Year and Devin Young, Michael Hatch and Tim Dobbert receiving All-MPSF awards.

Senior Sander, who leads the Cougars with 4.53 kills per set while hitting .327, is the first player to win back-to-back MPSF Player of the Year awards since Pepperdine’s George Roumain won the honor in 1998 and 1999. The 6-foot-4 outside hitter won the award in 2013 after leading BYU to an MPSF regular-season title.

Also named to the All-MPSF First Team, he is only the second player in MPSF history to earn first-team honors four times. The other player to do it was UC Irvine’s Carson Clark, who played from 2009-2012.

Sander holds the BYU rally-scoring era career kills record with 1,672, which he set this season against Cal Baptist, and the all-time service aces record with 171. He set the BYU all-time record for aces in a single match with nine against UC San Diego. Earlier Thursday he was also named a finalist for Off the Block/Springbak National Server of the Year. Sander is a product of Huntington Beach, Calif.

Senior middle blocker Young was named All-MPSF Second Team after averaging 1.09 blocks per set and 1.45 kills per setting, hitting a team-high .403. Young started all matches for the Cougars this season. Young hails from McMurray, Pa.

Sophomore blocker Hatch of Agoura Hills, Calif., earned All-MPSF Honorable Mention after leading BYU with 1.34 blocks per set. He also contributes 1.11 kills per set, hitting .396. Hatch was named a finalist for Off the Block/Springbak Blocker of the Year.

Dobbert, a freshman opposite from Aichelberg, Germany, was named to the All-MPSF Freshman Team. During the regular season, Dobbert averaged 2.45 kills per set and hit .276.

BYU finished the regular season tied for first place with Pepperdine. The title was the Cougars’ second regular-season title in a row after winning the 2013 regular-season and tournament titles. BYU now looks to defend its tournament title, starting with a home matchup against USC in the quarterfinals Saturday.