16 Home Matches Highlight Men's Volleyball 2012 Schedule

PROVO, Utah – The BYU men’s volleyball 2012 schedule was released this week with tough match-ups on the docket including 10 teams ranked in the 2010 AVCA Division I-II Final Poll.

“I have tremendous respect for the coaches and players in this league, it’s a wonderful and talented group,” said BYU head coach Chris McGown. “We’re very excited for the schedule this year and the opportunities we have to match up with these excellent programs.”

The Cougars play 16 home matches and 10 on the road. The 16 matches at home are the most BYU has had since 2003 and the third most since the program began NCAA play in 1990.

“We host some great teams this year, and they all have a history of success”, McGown said.  “We’ll host three of the teams from last season’s Final Four, and several others with whom we have some nice rivalries.  The Fieldhouse is maybe the best home-court envrionment in the entire country, and a big part of that is our knowlegeable and enthusiastic fans – we think they’ll have a lot to get excited about this season”.

To kick off the 2012 season, BYU will travel to Santa Barbara to participate in the E-Bar Tournament on Jan. 6 and 7. Opponents for the tournament have not been assigned yet. Continuing through January, the Cougars will stay in California for a match against UC Irvine before heading back to Provo for back-to-back weekends at home against 2011 NCAA Final Four participant USC and Stanford.

A brief road stint at UC San Diego on Feb. 9 and 11 breaks up another long home stand for the Cougars with three-straight weekends against NAIA 2011 champion Cal Baptist, 2011 NCAA semifinal participant UC Santa Barbara, Pepperdine and Pacific between Feb. 17 and Mar. 10.

A beach-to-beach trip in Hawaii on March 16 and 17, and Long Beach, California, on March 23 and 24 kick off the second half of the schedule. The Cougars return home on the 29th and 30th for matches against CS Northridge, head to UCLA in the first weekend of April and finish their regular season at home against EIVA champion Penn State on April 13 and 14.

The Cougars return three All-Americans to a squad that went 22-9 in 2011 and finished second in the MPSF.

View the full schedule here.