The BYU men’s volleyball team returns to the Smith Fieldhouse this weekend to play its first home matches of the season and looks to improve their unblemished 3-0 record, as they host the California Baptist University Lancers.

Last week, BYU swept the Outrigger Volleyball Invitational, beating Lewis University, Penn State and Hawaii. Upon returning home from the invitational, the Cougars were greeted by a No. 1 ranking by the USA Today/CSTV Top 15 Division I/II Men's Coaches poll, which was released Tuesday. The Cougars received 11 of the possible 16 first-place votes while the UCLA Bruins received the remaining five.

In Hawaii, the Cougars were able to gain much needed experience. With five of the Cougars’ seven starters from last season now gone, it is left up to the inexperienced, although talented, squad to take their place.

Opposite-hitter Casey Paterson, who came off the bench in the first two matches of last week’s invitational, earned his first start of his career on Friday night against Hawaii before putting down a career high 19 kills and 10 digs. Red shirt freshman, Russell Holmes played solid in the middle for BYU after smashing down 28 kills for the tournament.

Returning starters Michael Burke and Victor Batista have come up big for the Cougars in the first three matches of the season, giving the team much needed leadership.

The Lancers are the reigning 2004 NAIA champion and recently were given the No. 1 preseason NAIA ranking.

“Cal won the NAIA, and they are very, very good," BYU head coach Tom Peterson said in a news release. "They're one of the top teams in the country. They have different rules that give them more access to the foreign players, so they have some very good players.”

Cal Baptist started the season 2-0 after easily sweeping both No. 10 UC Irvine and UC San Diego in three straight games.

The Lancers’ momentum was stifled this week when their match against Pepperdine was postponed because of the severe rainstorms currently hitting California. Two days later, the Lancers lost a close match to UCLA in five games.

The Cougars will take on Cal Baptist tonight in Provo at 7:30 p.m. while Saturday night’s contest will start at 7 p.m.



Copyright Brigham Young University 19 Jan 2005