With MPSF play on the horizon, the BYU men’s volleyball team will begin its quest to achieve a league title — a feat that was commonplace in the program’s past. For nearly a decade, graduating players would leave the school with multiple championships to their names. But those days as a perennial MPSF title contender seem somewhat distant for a Cougars squad that has only one player who competed for the school when it last won the league.
However, BYU coach Shawn Olmstead is not panicking.
“That does not change my message one bit,” he said. “My message is not going to be, ‘OK, we got to get ready, because we can’t lose in the first round (of the MPSF tournament).’ … I won’t say two words about that.”
Instead, Olmstead tried to create a nonconference schedule that prepared his team for the biggest matches; a schedule that built his team up and challenged it, putting his players in the best position to have success when league play begins for the school Thursday on the road against Concordia.
BYU has already gone toe-to-toe at No. 2 UC Irvine and a weekend later came up short by a hair against No. 4 Hawaii. The Cougars also have road wins over No. 15 Ohio State and No. 9 Ball State. The school has practically seen it all, before ever reaching its MPSF schedule.
On “BYU Sports Nation,” Olmstead explained his decision to design such a challenging schedule. “It’s important that I put our guys in a position … where we can ideally be playing our best volleyball at the end of the season,” he said. “I want to be tested.”
Olmstead got his wish, preparing his team for the end of the season early on.
BYU senior outside hitter Keoni Thiim has seen firsthand how playing top-ranked opponents week in and week out has helped the team grow. “(We’re) battle-tested,” he said. “I’m excited. … It’s (about) whoever’s going to be playing the best late April.”
But before April comes the MPSF challenge Olmstead foresaw. The Cougars coach was quick to point out the difficult road matches his team will face in league play this season. “We’ve got to go on the road to UCLA (and) GCU,” he said in his “Sports Nation” interview. “It’s not a walk in the park.”
UCLA and GCU currently rank nationally inside the top 10. The Cougars’ home matches against MPSF foes aren’t any easier. They include No. 5 USC, No. 8 Stanford and No. 11 Pepperdine.
The league also has a pair of newcomers this season that are transitioning from NAIA to Division II: Menlo College and Vanguard University. Despite its best efforts to schedule those teams, BYU will not face either school this season.
“We didn’t have to play them (but) I tried to make it work that we could,” Olmstead said of the new MPSF schools. “I’m going to always look for a time to help promote … new programs.”
Menlo and Vanguard bring the league to nine teams in total.
Preseason polling picked UCLA to finish atop the MPSF, followed by USC, with BYU in third. The Cougars finished last season in third place behind UCLA and GCU.
Though there will be great importance placed on winning matches in MPSF play, the ultimate prize awaits at the conclusion of regular-season league contests. Olmstead is focused on what his team can reach as the year closes out, perhaps an MPSF tournament title, knowing that will determine if the school can earn its first NCAA tournament bid in four years.
“It will come down to who you are at the end of the year to win your conference tournament,” he said. “There could be a bid here and there … but it’s going to come down to us being our best for the conference tournament.”
Seeding for the league’s tournament will begin this week when the Cougars face Concordia. BYU understands what’s on the line as it begins MPSF play. The school hopes this is the season it gets back to the top.
