By Brent Hinckley
The men”s volleyball team needs some big wins and a little bit of luck to win the regular season Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship.
The Cougars are currently in fourth place in the MPSF, but there are enough games and interesting match-ups left that could put BYU near the top of the Conference.
One of those interesting match-ups will be the showdown between No. 4 BYU and No. 5 UC Santa Barbara March 27 and March 28 in the Smith Fieldhouse.
Coach Carl McGown said Santa Barbara is very similar to the Cougars in size, but its style of play is much different.
“They have explosive arms, and some dynamic athletes,” he said. “They”re really different than any other team in our league. No team in our league is playing the way Santa Barbara is playing right now.”
The Cougar defense is going to have to continue to step-up as they face the fast-paced Gaucho offense.
“They run a really fast offense, so we”re just practicing our block against that,” sophomore middle blocker Chris Gorny said. “They lead the nation in hitting percentage.”
Senior outside hitter Ben Koski leads the Gauchos in kills per game, averaging 3.89 kills, and was recently named the MPSF player of the week. Koski was an important factor as he put down 14 kills in the Gaucho”s win over Hawaii.
Senior libero Mike Wilton knows the Cougar defense will be an important factor in defeating the Gauchos.
“We”re a really good all-around team defensively,” Wilton said. “We know we”re one of the premiere teams in the nation.”
The Cougars also know they are going to have their hands full as they head into their final home match of the regular season. But, senior opposite hitter Mike Wall, who leads the Cougar offense, is confident in his team.
“Everyone”s pretty confident,” he said. “I think we”re going to have to work hard for it and be emotionally involved.”
In the MPSF conference race, UCLA and Pepperdine will go head-to-head to determine the conference winner. Hawaii, BYU, Stanford and UC Santa Barbara will fight to round out the top four teams, who will each host a first round match in the conference tournament.
The matches against Santa Barbara will begin at 7 p.m. today and Friday in the Smith Fieldhouse.
