Less than a month into the season, No. 5 BYU men’s volleyball is reaching heights that the program has not reached in a half decade.
Not only did the Cougars receive a first-place vote in the rankings this week, but for the first time since 2020, BYU has begun a season 6-0. It also marks the first time since that year that four of the school’s six wins have come on the road.
BYU’s matches on the road haven’t been a cakewalk either, facing some of the best teams in the country to start the year.
“In the month of January, I (have) got to go to Ball State, to Irvine, and to Ohio State,” BYU coach Shawn Olmstead said before the season began. “I can bet that is the toughest January schedule, and it’s … not even a close number two.”
All three of those opponents currently rank in the top 12 in the nation. Still, the Cougars have made the most of their challenging first month, gaining valuable experience while remaining unbeaten.
BYU began the season on the road against previous No. 11 Ohio State, on consecutive nights. The Cougars dropped a total of two sets in Columbus, earning back-to-back wins over the Buckeyes.
Two weeks later, BYU faced then No. 6 Ball State in Indiana. The Cougars reverse swept the Cardinals the first night and the second night came back from a 1-2 set deficit to again win in the fifth.
“There was a lot of heart, grit and determination,” Olmstead said following the pair of victories over Ball State. “It was an unbelievable job by our team. I can’t handle too many of those, but (we) stayed in it. … It was a long one, but this is what you want at the start of the year.”
The strong start to the season has given BYU quality victories and helped prepare it for what remains ahead in nonconference and MPSF play.
Olmstead and his players have welcomed the challenge. In a December interview with “BYU Sports Nation” he said, “You got to go on the road. I like it. We put ourselves in a position where we’ve got to see what we’re made of.
“We put our starters out, they put their starters out, and … we went toe-to-toe with them. They’ve got the returning player of the year and … we were (right) there with them. So that’s good.”
— BYU coach Shawn Olmstead on the Cougars scrimmage against No. 2 UC Irvine in St. George
So far, the Cougars have proven they are made of something solidm however, things will continue to remain difficult for the Cougars.
“We’re going to … play the three toughest weeks of any team in the entire country,” Olmstead said earlier this month regarding his squad’s final three January opponents. “And two of those weeks, we’re going to go on the road with two teams that are (highly ranked).”
BYU is one week through the gauntlet Olmstead referenced, with its biggest test to date just around the corner when the school travels to No. 2 UC Irvine for matches Wednesday and Friday. The Cougars and Anteaters are familiar with one another, having faced off in a scrimmage in St. George before the season started. In that meeting, Olmstead got a sneak peak at his team’s potential.
“We put our starters out, they put their starters out, and … we went toe-to-toe with them,” he said. “They’ve got the returning player of the year and … we were (right) there with them. So that’s good.”
After its matches at UC Irvine this week, BYU will have played half of the 12 total road contests on its schedule. Playing away from Provo has not seemed to bother the Cougars, which bodes well for the team’s return to friendlier confines when it will have an added boost in the Smith Fieldhouse.
However, when BYU’s road matches let up and it returns home, the competition will remain stiff. The Cougars will round out what Olmstead called “the three toughest weeks of any team in the entire country” with a pair of contests against No. 4 Hawaii to close out January and begin February.
But if the lessons they’ve learned and the experience they’ve gained on the road have done their job, BYU will be primed for success in the final months of the season.
