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Brian Rowley and the 2006 BYU men's volleyball team was picked to finish first in the MPSF.   (BYU Photo/Mark Philbrick)

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PROVO, Utah (December 2, 2005) -- BYU was picked to finish first in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation for the 2006 season in the first-ever MPSF Preseason Men's Volleyball Coaches' Poll.

BYU received 28 points, nine ahead of UCLA, which finished with 37. The Cougars received the most first-place votes with six, three ahead of UCLA. Long Beach State, Pepperdine and Cal State Northridge all received one first place vote. Long Beach finished behind UCLA at third and was followed by Pepperdine, Hawai`i, Cal State Northridge, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, Pacific, USC, Stanford and UC San Diego.

"It's a great honor to think other coaches think so highly of our program," BYU coach Tom Peterson said. "Obviously it's a good challenge for us to live up to those expectations. Of course the idea is to be in that same spot at the end of the season."

Peterson is entering his fourth season with the program and has a record of 72-21 with the Cougars. He led BYU to the title match in 2003 where the Cougars lost to Lewis and took them back in 2004, where they defeated Long Beach State.

BYU finished third in the MPSF at 15-7 last season and was 20-10 overall and ranked No. 8 in the final USA Today/CSTV Coaches' poll. The Cougars lost to UC Santa Barbara in the first round of the MPSF postseason tournament, ending their season. BYU has finished in the top four of the league each year since 1997, including first-place finishes in 1999, 2001 and 2004. The Cougars have registered one second-place finish and four third-place finishes during that stretch.

Five players who started almost every match during the 2005 season return, including All-Americans Ivan Perez, an outside hitter, and Victor Batista, a middle blocker, All-MPSF setter Rob Neilson, libero Brian Rowley and outside hitter Taylor Evans. Russell Holmes also brings experience to the lineup having started 13 matches in 2005.

Perez and Batista led the team in kills per game in 2005 at 3.78 and 3.53 per game, respectively. Perez finished second on the team in digs at 150 while Batista was third in blocks with 97. Neilson averaged 13.22 assists per game and was second on the tem in total blocks with 98, including 19 solos. Rowley finished the year with a team best 206 digs, good for an average of 1.89 per game.

BYU will begin the 2006 season with two home matches against NAIA powerhouse Cal Baptist, Jan. 6 and 7 at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse. The Lancers came to Provo last season and split two matches with Cal Baptist winning the first in five games and the Cougars taking the second in three.

						Rank  Team                   Points (First-place votes)
1     Brigham Young          28 points (6)
2     UCLA                   37 points (3)
3     Long Beach State       40 points (1)
4     Pepperdine             47 points (1)
5     Hawai`i                49 points 
6T    Cal State Northridge   78 points
6T    UC Santa Barbara       78 points
8     UC Irvine              80 points
9     Pacific                113 points
10    USC                    119 points
11    Stanford               123 points
12    UC San Diego           144 points