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Senior middle blocker Trent Sorensen   (BYU Photo/Mark Philbrick)

PROVO, Utah (Dec. 4, 2007) -- The BYU men's volleyball team is ranked second behind Pepperdine in the third annual MPSF Men's Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll, receiving 105 points and five first-place votes.

"Pepperdine has the Player of the Year returning in Jonathan Winder, and they're going to be tough to beat," BYU head coach Shawn Patchell. "[The No. 2 ranking] is a compliment to us. I think a lot of respect is given to us with our returning seniors."

The Cougars finished the 2007 season with a 23-6 overall record (18-4 MPSF) and lost to UC Irvine in the MPSF Tournament semi-finals. BYU returns a pair of All-Americans in outside hitter Ivan Perez and middle blocker Russell Holmes, in addition to the 2007 National Newcomer of the Year setter Yamil Perez.

Pepperdine, which won the conference regular season last year, topped the ballots with 108 points and five first-place votes to earn the No. 1 ranking. Defending MPSF and National Champion UC Irvine was picked fourth. Following is the complete rankings from the MPSF Men's Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll.

						
Rank	Team	                Points (First-Place Votes) 
No. 1	Pepperdine	        108 points (5)	
No. 2	Brigham Young	        105 points (5)	
No. 3	UCLA	                104 points (1) 	
No. 4	UC Irvine	        88 points	
No. 5	Cal State Northridge	85 points (1)	
No. 6	USC	                68 points	
No. 7	Long Beach State	57 points
No. 8	Hawaii	                51 points	
No. 9	Stanford	        50 points	
No. 10	UC Santa Barbara	40 points	
No. 11	Pacific	                23 points	 
No. 12	UC San Diego	        13 points