The BYU men's volleyball team wraps up its off-season competition this weekend in Las Vegas at a round-robin tournament with various teams from Southern California.

The tournament puts the Cougars against Long Beach State, the University of California - Irvine, the University of California - San Diego and a team composed of former collegiate players.

First-year coach Tom Peterson said he does not know exactly what to expect heading into the tournament.

"It's an unknown for me because we haven't played any U.S. teams yet," he said. "We're a good team and we'll be fine, but we still have work to do and we're still working with our lineups."

Peterson said winning at the tournament is not his top priority, but rather evaluating his team against tough competition.

"Winning or losing is not our main focus here, but rather performing well," he said, "and to get experience for our guys."

Peterson said he is still working with his lineups and is not sure who will be playing in each game. However, he said he welcomes the chance for his players to face other teams and for him to evaluate them.

"This is a chance for us to see someone else," Peterson said. "We've practiced hard in the gym, but it's hard to maintain your focus when you're playing yourself. This is a chance to compete against other teams, and the players welcome that opportunity."

In BYU's other off-season competition, the team traveled to Canada Oct. 11-12 and returned with a 3-1 record at a tournament there.

The performance earned the team the trophy for best American team at the tournament, but coaches and players said they want to do the same against their countrymen now.

"Now is our chance against American teams," assistant coach Shawn Patchell said. "We should do very well because we've been working hard in practice."

Junior middle blocker Mike Berg said he is confident the team will be successful in Las Vegas.

"I think we should do really well," he said. "I think we're better than most teams there. Long Beach is pretty good, but we should be able to beat the other teams fairly easily."

Like his coaches, however, Berg also said the trip is most important as a chance to evaluate the team.

"It's good for the team to play lots of games together to see how we'll react in a real game-time situation during the season," he said.

After the tournament, the Cougars have four days of practice to evaluate their performance before NCAA regulations require them to stop practices.

Practices resume for the team on Jan. 3 in preparation for the season opener on Jan. 10 at home against Red Deer College.