The Magical Mystery Tour - otherwise known as the 1991 BYU women's volleyball season - is now history, with the Cougars having been eliminated by Southern California in Friday night's first round of the NCAA postseason playoffs.
"Mystery" and "magical" are appropriate adjectives for the youthful, somewhat inexperienced BYU squad this year. The mystery came before the season even started, as preseason knee surgery forced All-America outside hitter Tea Nieminen - BYU's sole senior - to sit out as a redshirt.The young Cougars became even younger with Nieminen's absence - BYU Coach Elaine Michaelis counted the equivalent of 11/2 players back with starter's type experience.
And that's where the "magical" element comes in - the Cougars finished the regular season with a 26-4 overall record and a 10-2 mark in the Western Athletic Conference - the latter good for second place in the WAC.
In fact, the Cougars reeled off victories in 18 of their first 19 matches, defeating during that time seventh-ranked Nebraska, 12th-ranked Ohio State and 17th-ranked Pepperdine. Losses during the season were suffered at the hands of eighth-ranked New Mexico (twice), second-ranked Long Beach State and 13th-ranked Texas.
The final loss was to 15th-ranked USC in the NCAA playoffs. And while the young Cougars showed some errors of inexperience early against the Trojans, their 15-1 rout in the third game foreshadowed what the future holds in store for the fortunes of BYU's volleyball team.
Led by the blocking of Carol Schumann and Charlene Johnson and the frontline hitting of Fellows, Egbert and Laura Warnock, BYU finished with a .650 hitting percentage in the third game.
"For a majority of the season, we were fearless," said sophomore outside hitter Michelle Fellows. "We didn't expect a lot of ourselves and we'd go into a game thinking `Nothing's expected, so let's go out and have fun.' "
However, the late-season pressure seemed to take its toll, against the likes of eventual WAC champion New Mexico and USC. "We became too intense," said junior outside hitter Shannan Egbert, mindful that patience and confidence are two virtues the Cougars will need to strengthen.
Despite the young roster, BYU still earned a number of season awards. Freshman setter Charlene Johnson was named WAC Freshman of the Year as well as first-team All-WAC. Fellows and Egbert received second-team All-WAC recognition.
And behind the blocking of Schumann and Warnock, BYU finished with an eighth-place national ranking in blocks per game with a 3.27 average.