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PROVO — Leo Durkin had just been chastised.
The BYU sophomore setter had just received what he described as “a good tongue-lashing” from head coach Shawn Olmstead after a workout in the preseason. The Las Vegas native had recently returned from an LDS Church mission and was working his way back in with a team he presumably had a good chance of leading at a position commonly called the quarterback of volleyball.
Everything had to be perfect, he remembered thinking. If he wasn’t, it was his fault. He got down on himself for each of his mistakes.
That’s where the first-year men’s coach came in, imploring the young player to stop being so hard on himself. If nothing else, Olmstead would later tell Durkin, just set the ball really high so that one of the standout hitting combo of Ben Patch, Jake Langlois or Brenden Sander could go get it.
“It gave me an extra bit of confidence to relax,” said Durkin, who has averaged 35.1 sets per match as a regular starter for the top-ranked Cougars. “He gave me a good tongue-lashing and let me know that I have to instill confidence in my hitters and I can’t be too nit-picky with every single set.”
With help from his coach and a mental boost from famed sports psychologist Craig Manning, Durkin has quietly become one of the most consistent setters in the country. His 10.56 assists per set ranks ninth in the NCAA, second in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, and has No. 1-ranked BYU (24-3) rolling into Thursday’s conference tournament semifinal against UC Santa Barbara (20-9) at 7:30 p.m. MT.
And as good as players like Patch, Langlois, Sander and middle blocker Michael Hatch have been, Olmstead said it all starts with BYU’s passing attack.
“I think Leo has made really good decisions throughout the year. His improvement has been remarkable, as well,” Olmstead said. “He’s making good decisions, getting the ball where it needs to be in the right situations, and it’s a credit to him. But it starts with our passing. Our passing has been really good, and if we can get numbers like we have been, it’ll be good for us.”
Durkin has also been remarkably efficient in his first season of Division I college volleyball. After starring at Centennial High School in Las Vegas, he redshirted the 2012 season at BYU before serving a mission, then returned home with time to get married and return to Las Vegas to work and save money for the season.
In a sport allocated about four scholarships per NCAA guidelines, it’s a common story for BYU players. Langlois himself started as a walk-on, and most players split a single scholarship to spread out the savings as far as they can go.
But that hasn’t stopped BYU from winning. The Cougars are favorites to win the MPSF title, hosting the final two rounds of the tournament Thursday and Saturday, and could make a strong case for an at-large berth to next week’s NCAA Tournament at Penn State.
Durkin, though, knows the Cougars can’t take anything for granted — and it starts with Santa Barbara, who the Cougars swept at home Feb. 5 and 6.
“They’re a great team with a great setter and great pin hitters. They’ve had a great end of the season, and we’re excited to play them again,” Durkin said of the Gauchos, who stunned Stanford, 3-2 in last week’s MPSF quarterfinals. “We’re taking the approach that we are playing a new team. They aren’t going to be the same opponent that we played last time.”
Semifinals
No. 3 UCLA vs. No. 4 Long Beach State, Thursday at 5 p.m. MT
No. 1 BYU vs. No. 6 UC Santa Barbara, Thursday at 7:30 p.m. MT
Finals
Semifinal winners, Saturday
A Santa Barbara native and long-time UCSB fan (at least, when he wasn’t cheering for BYU, he is quick to add), Olmstead has strived to confer to the Cougars that UCSB has improved since the schools’ only two meetings nearly two months ago. The fifth-seeded Gauchos have won six-straight matches and come into the Smith Fieldhouse as the MPSF Tournament’s last remaining underdog alongside bluebloods UCLA (24-5) and Long Beach State (24-6), who will face off in the other semifinal Thursday at 5 p.m. MT.
“They’re observant,” Olmstead said of his team. “They’ve seen their two wins over a team that was in first place in the MPSF. That should get your attention; I sure hope it does. Not much more needs to be said there.”
Durkin has been preparing for a new team with his own new team that has immense postseason goals.
But if push comes to shove, just throw it up high.
“I just focus on what I can do,” Durkin said. “For these guys, they’ve got a huge range.
“They do a great job adjusting to my sets, and they are smart, crafty hitters. It takes a load off.”
