This season, the BYU men’s volleyball team hopes to become the team opponents hate playing.
“It’s annoying to play against a team that won’t ever go away,” said senior Tyler Herget. “You think you are going to win the point, but they do not let you win the point very easily. It’s always annoying to play a team like that.”
The Cougars bring energy and intensity to every practice and match, but players say their biggest advantage isn’t athletic. It’s the brotherhood they’ve built off the court, a connection that brings trust, competitiveness and accountability into every point.
“I think what separates our culture from the culture of a different volleyball program or a different team is how close in proximity we are to each other,” said senior Jackson Fife.
Both Herget and Fife have seen the program cycle through personality shifts and roster changes, and this year is no different. The 2026 roster includes eight freshmen and three transfer players, making team chemistry a top priority.
“We can see that we have a young team,” said Herget, “we need to get better and we need to build that chemistry right away.”
The fall offseason is where the process of building chemistry begins. Motivation towards a goal brings the team together on the court, but Herget said there needs to be more than just reps on the court.
“You want to have something outside of just volleyball,” said Herget. “Because if you just play volleyball together, then there’s no culture, there’s no sense of camaraderie while you are actually playing.”
That camaraderie did not form from a single play, a pep talk, or even the classic hype song “Turbulence.”
Rather, the culture of the team happened over a deck of cards.
With one game of Truco, a Brazilian card game introduced by junior Bernardo Adam, the team found a new tradition and a tighter bond off the court that carries onto it.
Adam grew up playing this game in Brazil with friends, and when he got to BYU, he had to get the team involved.
"In Brazil, this game is religion,” said Adam. “Everybody knows how to play. Everybody plays this game. It’s very competitive. People play for money. People play for food.”
Truco involves rounds of flipping cards, bluffing and constant communication with a teammate. This creates an environment where personalities emerge quickly, creating a different sense of friendship and communication outside of the gym.
Players often gather around tables in the team room, hotels and even on the bus to play a game of Truco. Games can get loud or be silent with teammates celebrating small wins or losses between each round.
“I didn’t think it would become part of the team culture,” he said. “But we play it every single day.”
What started as a single round quickly turned into a cornerstone of the team’s identity.
“The card game is so much fun,” said Fife. “It just shows our true selves. We are laughing. We are having fun. We are joking and messing with each other. I think of it as if it was your brother that you grew up with. Right now, I have 17 brothers that I grew up with.”
The bond did not form overnight, but the daily banter, the competition, the inside jokes and the shared victories and losses, in both Truco and volleyball, built a level of trust that carries directly onto the court.
“I know them well enough and they have seen my real side,” said Fife. “I can trust them and they know they can trust me.”
That trust fuels accountability.
“When we get on the court, it can be fun, it can be loud, it can be crazy, but the accountability is there,” he said. “We hold each other to a high standard, so we can hold each other accountable because there is no awkward tension.”
The connection they formed over cards has become a competitive advantage.
“Man, do we have a good connection,” said Fife. “I want our team this year to make it difficult for other teams to beat us. If you’re gonna beat us it’s gonna be a tough win.”
The Cougars learned how to fight for every point with a single card and according to Adam, that will be mirrored to each game they play this season.
“In our season, you are going to see guys jumping over seats and jumping over the tables,” Adam said.
Men’s volleyball is already one of the most attended sports at BYU, behind only football and men’s basketball.
The Smith Fieldhouse is known for its electric atmosphere where fans gather to cheer on both the men’s and women’s volleyball teams. Fans will have a chance to see the 2026 team on Jan. 9, as the Cougars host Saint Francis.