BYU picked second in MPSF preseason poll

WOODLAND, Calif. – The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation released its 2019 Men’s Volleyball Preseason Coaches’ poll Thursday, with BYU coming in second to UCLA among the favorites to win this year's MPSF title.

Defending MPSF Champion and national semifinalist BYU picked up 28 points and one first-place vote in the preseason poll. The Cougars return 14 players, including All-American hitter and 2018 AVCA and MPSF Newcomer of the Year Gabi Garcia Fernandez, as well as All-MPSF Middle Felipe de Brito Ferreira.

UCLA placed first in the poll with 36 points while collecting all but the one first-place vote that went to BYU. The Cougars were picked first last year for the third straight season and went on to amass a 22-7 record and 10-2 conference mark to win the MPSF championship over the Bruins. UCLA got its revenge in the NCAA national semifinals, beating the Cougars in four sets to advance to the championship match, where they lost to Long Beach State.

The Cougars lost six players from last year’s squad, including All-American starters Price Jarman, Leo Durkin and Brenden Sander. BYU welcomes five freshmen newcomers this season.

Fernandez, a second-team 2018 AVCA All-American, had a team-best 387 kills as a freshman last year and returns to help the Cougars manage the void left by the departure of first-team All-American outside hitter counterpart Sander.

Junior outside hitter Storm Fa’agata-Tufuga returns as BYU’s third-most productive hitter (194 kills) from last season, along with 2018 Volleyball Magazine Freshman All-American middle blocker Ferreira, who led the team averaging 1.14 blocks per set.

Pepperdine, Stanford and USC rounded out the top five in the preseason poll. The complete poll can be found on the MPSF website.

BYU begins the season at home, hosting No. 8 Ohio State on Thursday, Jan. 10, at 7 p.m. MST. Conference play in the MPSF begins Wednesday, Feb. 6 at Pepperdine.