Mens Volleyball 2017

[scott715]

http://www.offtheblockblog.com/2016/11/ ... -recruits/

Both are non LDS but love the HC.

[scott715]

https://www.avca.org/polls/dii-men/12-8-2016.html
Ranked #3 to start the season. First game in January.
http://byucougars.com/m-volleyball/coug ... eason-poll

[scott715]

We're #4 but we beat #2 undefeated UCLA at home last night in a 5 set thriller.

[gingi]

The (first) UCLA match was amazing. BYU has never aggressively served so well. Jump floats were another matter and playing time might be affected. UCLA's top two guys didn't play but their team blew us off the court in the third set and we barely got the wheels back on in time to squeeze out a win in the fifth set.

After the game Lauren (I think) asked Ben Patch what he did to take over the game. He quickly said no no, it was a team effort; It took every person here then indicated BYU fans.
The crowd was incredible - loud and on top of it. The announcers were good too. Hopefully tonight's game will be just as good without being just as close. Go Cougs.

[gingi]

The first set was a 25-13 blowout for BYU similar - but opposite - to their loss in Set 3 yesterday with blocks all over the place. UCLA came back to make the second set a respectable UCLA loss then looked like they would win the third set going away. We came from four down to survive several UCLA match points leading to a 29-29 tie. Then with Coach Olmstead's surprising sub-in Tim Dobbert serving two amazingly good serves, BYU closed the door on the match. I think that's an all-time 32-31 record against UCLA with seven straight victories over them. It seems likely we'll see them again this year but they'll have their two injured All-Americans back.

The BYU crowd was thunderous again and did a good job of getting in the opponents' heads. The game was broadcast over the WCC network and I think it's available to watch again. Their announcers were much better than past WCC announcers at knowing the game, the players, the coaches, and the location.

Go Cougs. I don't know who we play next but I trust Scott to keep us in the know.

[scott715]

I couldn't find it on theW.tv. I don't think we are good enough to win it all this year. We rely too much on Patch and our blocking is down. Next game Friday at USC

[gingi]

BYU wins 3-0 at USC. Patch didn't play. The first set was in doubt - down early by quite a bit most of the team seemed to play in slow motion and USC played for at least one match point. Luckily the Cougars woke up near the end and won the first set. Part of USC's game plan was to serve to Langlois and Sander who didn't handle it well. Sikes began fielding some of those and made some amazing digs on his own. Meretev had an awesome ace that just barely dropped over the net without touching it. He smiled and didn't try that again. The team as a whole played well enough but are nowhere near good enough to beat Ohio State. Yet

The announcers were probably the most knowledgeable and able to communicate about volleyball that I've ever heard. The only thing they couldn't do well was admit the scale of BYU fans. They finally acknowledged that it looked like a BYU home game. Not Smith Fieldhouse home game with 5,000 attendees but way more than double the USC fans. When they stood up for match point it looked like almost everyone stood up.
Fun shots: BabyCam - Of course, all but one of the babies held up was a BYU baby.
ObliviousCam - panned many attendees > 5 yrs old who were on their phones.
More than a few families had husband/wife, father/daughter, etc. wearing opposing jerseys. Most were smiling. A Cam is needed for that but what would it be called?

[IowaCougar]

I enjoyed watching the Hawaii match on Saturday night on BYUtv. The really cool thing was to see the amazing comeback win in set 2. There's something about this team's ability to win the tight ones that could really pay off come tournament time.

Does anyone know when Patch will be returning? It's especially amazing that the Cougars were able to sweep Hawaii twice without him.

[SkystheLimit]

Down goes #1!!!!

[scott715]

Very intense match. We need to do it again today.