No. 2 Cougars begin MPSF play

PROVO, Utah – No. 2 BYU men’s volleyball will open conference action at home with matches this week against No. 7 UCLA and No. 8 Pepperdine at the Smith Fieldhouse.

BYU Game Notes
Pepperdine Game Notes

The Cougars (10-0) will face the seventh-ranked Bruins (5-3) to begin Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play on Thursday, Feb. 6, at 7 p.m. MST before hosting the eighth-ranked Waves (3-2) on Saturday, Feb. 8, at 5 p.m. MST. Both matches will be televised live on BYUtv and will be streamed on the BYUtv App and byutv.org.

The MPSF coaches tabbed BYU to win the conference this year in their preseason poll. UCLA came in just behind the Cougars after receiving two of the seven first-place votes while Pepperdine was picked to finish fourth.

Winning its first 10 matches, BYU is off to its best start since going 12-0 to open the 2008 season. The Cougars remain ranked No. 2 in the most recent AVCA Coaches Poll while receiving five first-place votes. BYU moved atop the rankings of this week’s Off the Block National Media Poll after beating No. 3 UC Santa Barbara in back-to-back matches. The Cougars have played one of the toughest schedules in the country with eight of their 10 wins coming against ranked opponents.

UCLA is coming off a four-set win over No. 4 Long Beach State, handing the Beach their first loss of the season. The Bruins currently average 2.31 aces per set to lead the NCAA and are third in the nation with an average hitting percentage of 3.42. BYU holds the advantage when the two teams meet in Provo with a 24-10 home record over UCLA.

Pepperdine had a bye week last week after losing to No. 4 Long Beach State in four sets the previous week. The 2019 MPSF champions had to replace three all-conference players from last year and will look to rebound after dropping their last two non-conference matches. The Waves will begin MPSF action at No. 13 Stanford on Thursday before making the trip to play the Cougars in Provo.

BYU opposite hitter Gabi Garcia Fernandez continues to lead the NCAA in aces per set with an average of .946. The junior also ranks second in points per set (5.55) and is fifth in kills per set (4.14). Coming off his second-consecutive MPSF Defensive Player of the Week award, Wil Stanley is second in the nation with 10.85 assists per set.

As a team, the Cougars are second in the NCAA with a hitting percentage of .343 and third in assists per set with 12.24. BYU is also currently fifth in blocks per set (2.649) and sixth in both kills per set (13.03) and aces per set (1.86).