No. 2 BYU men's volleyball opens pursuit of 4th NCAA title 'at peace'

PROVO — Price Jarman has been in this spot before.

The No. 2-seeded BYU men’s volleyball team will open the NCAA Tournament at 8:30 p.m. MDT Thursday in Los Angeles, but it isn’t Jarman's first national go-round.

The previous three, however? Well, they didn’t end to his liking.

The Cougars have lost in the national championship match the past two seasons, both times to Ohio State. But the Buckeyes, who swept Conference Carolinas champion King (Tennessee) in last week’s NCAA Tournament play-in match, aren’t the team to beat this year. That honor probably goes to top-seeded Long Beach State (26-1) or host UCLA (24-7), which will play BYU in Thursday’s semifinals if the Bruins get past Harvard (13-13) at 8:30 p.m. MDT.

"Every year, I’ve wanted to win really, really bad, and I never approached it with an idea that I would get another chance," Jarman said. "There are too many good teams, and you never know — we are lucky to be back here.

"I’m excited for us to play, but I’m also at peace. If we do what we’ve been training to do, things will go our way."

There’s an element of expectation on the Cougars in 2018 to win their fourth national title, but not as much as in years past. Gone are former standouts like Ben Patch and Taylor Sander, but the current squad of Jarman, outside hitter Brenden Sander and setter Leo Durkin have the Cougars back in a position to contend once again — and perhaps surprisingly.

BYU struggled early in the season, dropping home matches to then-No. 13 Loyola Chicago and then-No. 14 UC Santa Barbara before February had fully ushered in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play.

Even as they swept then-No. 3 UCLA in MPSF play and took three wins out of top-11 teams Penn State, Hawaii and Lewis at the Outrigger Invitational in Honolulu, the Cougars had some doubters.

But BYU enters the NCAA Tournament having won four of its last five matches, including the MPSF Tournament to go along with this year’s regular-season conference championship.

While the MPSF took a hit in quality and competition with the addition of the Big West Conference in men’s volleyball, BYU’s 10-2 conference record shouldn't be overlooked.

And neither should the Cougars.

"That’s the character of this team. They are a great group," BYU coach Shawn Olmstead said. "As coaches, we are having a blast with them and these guys want to accomplish a little more. They aren’t talking about it, but it’s something they feel."

Jarman has played a major role for the 2018 team, leading the squad with 86 blocks and averaging 1.45 kills per set. The 6-foot-9 middle blocker from Las Vegas also missed eight matches with a broken finger during the season.

But Olmstead, who doesn’t usually travel with injured or redshirting players, said Jarman’s leadership was just as valuable to the Cougars as his block. The same goes for his fellow seniors in Durkin, Sander and libero Erik Sikes.

"We've had some great senior leadership the previous two seasons, and they were a huge part of those two seasons," Olmstead said. "But we had some seniors who really took over this summer and into the preseason, and that’s manifested it this season to become our rock."

Jarman knows the expectations of a BYU squad that regularly competes for national titles, but hasn’t hoisted the biggest prize since 2004.

That’s not his focus, though.

"Every time we get a chance to go to the Final Four, which has been a few times for us seniors, it’s an honor. We’re excited about it," Jarman said.

"We haven’t had the result we wanted in years past, so we’re hoping to change that this year."

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