Cougars Remain No. 1

PROVO -- The BYU men's volleyball team remained the No. 1 team in the nation in this week's USA Today/AVCA Coaches Poll, as well as Volleyball Magazine's Top-10 poll, despite splitting a pair of matches last weekend against No. 5 Long Beach State. This week's poll marks the fifth straight week the Cougars have been ranked No. 1.

"To be honest, it's kind of a distraction," BYU head coach Carl McGown said. "Right now, we just want to be a good volleyball team and be the number-one team when the season is over. We have a tough road trip ahead of us and we can't be worried about who's number one, or number two. We have to concentrate on Pacific and Stanford."

BYU (15-2, 9-2) will travel to California this week, playing four crucial matches in a five-day period. The Cougars will face No. 12 Pacific (7-10, 3-8) on Friday and Saturday, March 30-31. BYU will take Sunday off before traveling to Palo Alto, Calif., taking on fourth-ranked Stanford (10-4, 7-3) on Monday and Tuesday, April 2-3. All four matches are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. (PST).

Currently, BYU owns a one-game lead over third-ranked UCLA (17-5, 9-3) in the MPSF Mountain-Division standings. No. 2 Hawai'i leads the MPSF Pacific Division with a 9-2 league record. The Warriors will travel to BYU on April 13-14.

USA Today / AVCA Coaches Top-15 Poll

(Jan. 27, 2001)

1. BYU (15-2)

2. Hawai'i (14-3)

3. UCLA (17-5)

4. Stanford (10-4)

5. Long Beach State (13-6)

6. Pepperdine (13-6)

7. USC (10-6)

8. UC Santa Barbara (10-8)

9. UC Irvine (9-10)

10. Penn State (17-5)

11. Lewis (16-5)

12. Pacific (7-10)

13. CS Northridge (10-12)

14. Ohio State (13-5)

15. Concordia (15-7)