By Brian Hintze
brian@newsroom.byu.edu
The BYU women's volleyball team is aiming for the Final Four but its road will not be easy.
Friday night, Dec. 7, the Cougars will face off against the Arizona Wildcats for the second time this year and are hoping they will be prepared this time.
'They have a very good team and they played very well against us the first time,' BYU's coach Elaine Michaelis said. 'We know what we're up against. We have a lot of respect for them because of that first meeting. It helps to know their personnel and be a little more prepared this time.'
The Wildcats finished the season ranked fifth nationally and narrowly missed a number one tournament seed after losing to Colorado State.
However, the Wildcats are just the first hurdle the Cougars must clear before they reach the Final Four.
The team will face a much bigger problem if it wins on Friday since it will most likely face Nebraska, the No. 1 team in the nation.
Nebraska is undefeated this season and will be playing at home where it has the second largest attendance in the nation.
'We have great respect for the Nebraska fans. They are great volleyball fans,' Michaelis said.
Despite the large obstacles in front of them, don't count the Cougs out just yet.
They finished the season with an 11-game winning streak and swept their first two matches in the NCAA tournament.
In that winning streak the Cougars beat Colorado State twice. The Rams were ranked No. 3 and 4 at the time. And one of the wins came in Colorado where they ended the nation's longest home winning streak.
The same Colorado State that defeated Arizona earlier in the season.
During the streak, the Cougars also won three other matches over nationally ranked opponents.
Also, Nebraska looks vulnerable. It narrowly escaped an upset by unranked South Carolina on Nebraska's home floor in the second round of the tournament.
The 15-12 fifth game victory gave Nebraska a scare and let the nation know that this is anyone's tournament to win.
The Cougars' size and athletic ability give them the ability to compete with anyone - even the Cornhuskers.
If the Cougars win on Friday their game on Saturday will be televised on Fox Sports Rocky Mountain.