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PROVO â Kupono Browne didn't need an introduction to the opponent for BYU men's volleyball's final two-match series of the regular season.
He had already suited up for them.
Browne had 18 kills in the sixth-ranked Cougars' 25-20, 19-25, 25-21, 26-24 win over No. 8 Stanford on Friday night, including the match-winning point in front of 4,358 fans in the Smith Fieldhouse.
Irony? Serendipity? Fate?
Call it what you will, but Browne will call it a critical win.
"I don't really need to give them an introduction. I know them too well," Browne said drily before the Cougars tipped off against the Cardinal. "We know that they're a respectable team, and we know that even though we are playing in the Smith, we've really got to come in and take care of business."
The win was a little extra special for Browne's coach, being the 150th career win for BYU head coach Shawn Olmstead, a former national champion libero for the Cougars who deferred all credit to his players.
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— BYU Volleyball (@BYUvolleyball) April 15, 2023
"I've been fortunate to be around such great people," Olmstead said after the match. "The wins will come down under my name, but there are countless other individuals who should be given the main credit. As far as tonight's win goes, shoutout to Jon Stanley for creating so many magical moments to carry our team forward. I was proud of our fight tonight."
The win was special for BYU (17-6), too, giving the Cougars a 7-4 record in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play and a one-match lead on Stanford for the No. 2 seed in next week's MPSF Tournament.
It also meant a lot to Browne, who was a freshman All-American attacker by Off The Block before he opted to transfer to BYU.
How the native of Honolulu, Hawaii, made the switch, though, is anything but ordinary.
Browne was content at Stanford, but two years ago, the school's administration threw he and his teammates a curveball. Meeting over Zoom in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cardinal revealed plans to cut Stanford men's volleyball â as well as 10 other sports â from the athletic department's budget.
Before the program was reinstated several months later, Cardinal coaches gave each player permission to enter the transfer portal and gauge interest in moving on. Within a few days of his name hitting the portal, Browne was texting with assistant coach Devin Lloyd and former BYU assistant Micah Naone â a reunion of the recruiting days when the two tried to recruit Browne to BYU out of Iolani School on the islands.
"That was an option for me out of high school, and it was really cool to pick up right where we left off," Browne said. "When they did reinstate the program, that was a super tough decision. But I ended up going with BYU because I felt like the program was a better fit for me, and I really liked the direction the coaches were taking the team.
"I'm super happy with that decision. I feel it was a great move for me."
Of course, off the court, Browne admits he struggled at times with BYU. He never owned a parka before moving to Provo, for example. While the Bay Area could get cold at times, it never compared to the frigid single-digit temperatures in December when he and his teammates were commuting to campus in the dark for preseason workouts and weightlifting.
"I don't think I'm used to it yet, being from Hawaii," he said. "Wearing a parka is a totally new experience for me."
The volleyball adjustment was easier; BYU sits at a higher elevation than Stanford, which has benefitted Browne's serve. He also has 211 points on 168 kills and a .242 hitting percentage, becoming one of the Cougars' most dynamic attacking players being fed by senior setter, fellow transfer and roommate Heath Hughes.
Kupono has tallied double-digit kills in four-straight matches, pacing a seven-match winning streak ahead of Saturday night's senior-night finale (7 p.m. MDT, BYUtv) with a season-high 22 kills in a 3-1 win over then-No. 11 USC to close out March.
That put BYU back on the radar for the postseason, including a potential return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021. And it put Browne squarely at the forefront of the Cougars' lineup, confident as he and his new team look to finish off the regular season with another victory over his old club.
"I think I found my footing with the team a little bit," Browne said of that USC match. "Heath gave me great passes, and our passers were giving Heath the ball to do that. We were in ideal situations.
"But I think I found an assertive confidence that really benefits my style of play. As long as I can find that this weekend, I should be able to recreate what I did."
