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PROVO, Utah — BYU volleyball reached the Final Four of the Men's NCAA Volleyball tournament four times from 1999 to 2004 winning three National Championships.
The Cougars now find themselves two wins away from winning a fourth national championship.
They begin play in the 2013 NCAA Men's Volleyball Final Four on Thursday in Los Angeles when they take on two-time national champion Penn State at 9 p.m. MST.
Reaching the fifth Final Four in the history of the program wasn't easy. The Cougars won the MPSF regular season title and the conference tournament to earn the No. 1 seed. They've held the No. 1 ranking in 11 of 15 weeks during the regular season, but were tested many times playing in the best conference in college volleyball. This season, 17 of their 24 wins were against ranked opponents.
Their match against UCLA in the MPSF semifinals defined their season.
My dad, who has seen a lot of volleyball, after the match, in the locker room he was talking to the guys and he said that was one of the great wins in BYU volleyball history. We hope that it proves somewhat prophetic.
–BYU head coach Chris McGown
BYU found themselves down two sets to none to the Bruins, but battled back to win the next three sets in a game that likely ensured BYU wouldn't have to face UCLA again on their home floor in the Final Four.
"My dad, who has seen a lot of volleyball, after the match, in the locker room he was talking to the guys and he said that was one of the great wins in BYU volleyball history," said head coach Chris McGown. "We hope that it proves somewhat prophetic."
McGown's father is longtime BYU Volleyball coach — Carl McGown — who built the program from scratch in 1990 into national champions a decade later. Now, Chris has the Cougars two wins away from a title.
"That's our goal to win a national championship," said junior outside hitter Taylor Sander. "It would be awesome to put another one up in the Smith Fieldhouse."
BYU is No. 1 for a reason; they are loaded with talent. Sander was named MPSF player of the year and tournament MVP. He was also named 1st team all-american, along with freshman phenom Ben Patch. They enter with plenty of confidence.
They also seek to join the legendary teams of the past. U.S. Olympic Gold Medalist Ryan Millar was a member of the team that won BYU's first national championship at Pauley Pavilion in 1999. He sent an email to the team this week to wish them good luck.
"There are these surrounding forces that are reminding them of where they are at and what's going on," McGown said. "For us we are just saying go play as hard as we can, have as much fun as you can in this environment because it's going to be awesome."
Freshman Ben Patch knows all about the programs history and is out to prove that BYU is back on top of the collegiate volleyball world.
"BYU has the best volleyball program in the country and we are out to prove that this weekend," he says.
Patch and the rest of his teammates get a chance to prove that starting Thursday.
