The BYU Men's Volleyball team will face last season's National Champion, UCLA, Jan. 12 and 13, 2007, at the Smith Fieldhouse at 7 pm.

The Cougars are currently ranked second in the coaches poll, while UCLA is ranked third, providing one of the best head-to-head matches of the season.

The Cougars look to improve on last year, as the squad posted a 20-10 season that ended in a five-game regular season losing streak. After being ranked at #1 for four consecutive weeks earlier in the 2006 season coaches' poll, the team fell to a national ranking of #8 at the end of the season.

With last year's National Champion coming to Provo, the Cougars aim for their third consecutive win in as many games.

The Cougars defeated an unranked Cal-Baptist team last weekend to improve to 2-0 on the season. At 2-1, UCLA's only loss of the season was to UC Irvine, the team currently ranked #1 in the nation.

"Ultimately, our goal every year is to win a national championship," said co-interim head coach Ryan Millar in a press release earlier this season. "However, we know we have to take it one match at a time."

The Cougars will have two matches against UCLA. The Bruins will be a good start to test not only the players, but also the coaches. Millar is one of two interim head coaches. Coupled with Shawn Patchell, both head coaches have experienced national championships at BYU. Millar played in 1999, when BYU won its first national championship, while Patchell was a part of the coaching staff in 2004, when BYU won its third national championship.

The Cougars are expected to be one of the most talented teams in the country, returning several key players from last year including Yosleyder Cala of Cuba and Ivan Perez of Puerto Rico. Veterans Russell Holmes and Trent Sorensen will secure the deepest position at middle blocker.

Andrew Stewart and Robby Stowell, both freshmen, have also contributed positively this season leading the Cougars to a win last weekend against Cal-Baptist.

"We have three guys in Cala, Perez and Andrew Stewart that are potential all-americans," Millar said.

The Cougars have the firepower to compete for the national title this season, but the question remains whether the consistency will match the talent of the team. After last year's superb start ended with a late season debacle, the Cougars are determined to win it all this season.

"We want to win the Final Four," Patchell said.

With a positive start to the season, the UCLA matches will serve as a standard for this Cougar team who has been plagued with inconsistent play and small errors in their first two games.

"We will get an early indication about how good we are when we play UCLA," Patchell said.

Both matches will be broadcast on BYUTV at 7 pm.

The Cougar's next games will be at Stanford Jan 19, and Jan 20.