Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PROVO — The BYU men’s volleyball team wrapped up practices at the Smith Fieldhouse for the final time in 2016 Monday afternoon before boarding a plane for the NCAA Tournament in eastern Pennsylvania.
But not before celebrating — as a team.
Opposite Ben Patch received the second AVCA All-American first-team nod of his career and outside hitter Brenden Sander was also named to the same award. Jake Langlois joined them as a second-team All-American and sophomore setter Leo Durkin was an honorable mention honoree, the sport’s governing body announced Monday.
But each honor goes to the whole team, Sander was quick to mention.
“It’s a nice honor, but Shawn (Olmstead, head coach) always tells us those are team awards,” said Sander, who averages 3.13 kills per seat on a .383 hitting percentage. “I definitely couldn’t have done my job without the other guys on the team, even the guys on the bench. Shout out to those guys; thank you.”
The Cougars have placed 25 first-team All-Americans in program history, as well as 20 second-team honorees. The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation received 15 All-American citations, with seven players on the first team and eight on the second team.
But BYU has eyes on the bigger prize, entering the six-team NCAA Tournament at Penn State as the No. 1 overall seed and a favorite to win a fourth national championship. The Cougars haven’t won a national title since 2004, when Olmstead — who is in his first season as the program’s head coach — was the starting libero.
Those teams were remarkably similar to the 2016 Cougars — though Olmstead jokingly admitted the Cougars have come a long way in terms of who they put at libero.
Related Story
BYU's Olmstead named MPSF coach of the year
First-year BYU men’s volleyball coach Shawn Olmstead has set quite the standard in his first season. The preseason No. 1 team in the country, BYU enters the NCAA Tournament as the field’s top overall seed, having won regular-season and tournament titles in the vaunted Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The 26-3 Cougars enter the tourney in University Park, Pennsylvania, for the third time in four years. And the league took note.“I sit back and just remember that was an exciting time,” he said. “I look back at the teams I was on and remember the teammates that have reached out to me. That’s when I really think about then, but then I try to focus on what these guys are doing.”
The NCAA Tournament begins Tuesday with two play-in matches at Penn State. No. 1 BYU will face the winner of Erskine College and Long Beach State and No. 2 UCLA will face the winner of Ohio State and George Mason in Thursday’s semifinals.
