No. 1 seed BYU kicks off MPSF tournament vs. No. 8 seed Hawai'i

PROVO, Utah – After earning the MPSF regular season title, the No. 1 seed BYU men’s volleyball team kicks off the MPSF Tournament against No. 8 seed Hawai’i in the quarterfinals this Saturday at 7 p.m. MDT in the Smith Fieldhouse.

The Cougars are ranked No. 1 in the nation for the seventh-straight week, tying the 2008 accomplishment. BYU clinched the No. 1 seed in the MPSF Tournament on March 30, the earliest a team has done so in MPSF history.

BYU (22-4, 21-3 MPSF) wrapped up the regular season last weekend with a pair of sweeps over Pacific and Stanford on the road, garnering the MPSF regular season title by three matches. The title is the first for the Cougars since 2004. 

The Cougars came away with both regular season matches against Hawai’i, 3-0 and 3-1, on Jan. 4 and Jan. 5, respectively, in the opening weekend of the 2013 season.

BYU leads the MPSF in hitting percentage (.326), opponent hitting percentage (.237) and blocks (2.94).

Freshman Michael Hatch is No. 1 in blocks per set in the MPSF with 1.43. Junior Taylor Sander has the third-best points average with 4.69. Sander records 3.92 kills and 0.38 aces per set, good for third and fifth, respectively. Senior Russ Lavaja has the fourth-best hitting percentage with a .456 clip.

BYU leads the series with Hawai’i 33-16. The Cougars last lost to the Warriors in 2010 on the road and have not lost at home since 2003.

Hawai’i (11-16, 10-14 MPSF) won its final two matches at UC San Diego to earn the eighth and final spot in the MPSF Tournament. Brook Sedore led the Warriors with 50 kills (5.56 per set), a .400 hitting attack (50-16-85), 13 digs (1.44 per set), nine blocks (1.00 per set) and two aces through the weekend. He tallied 31 kills (.489) the second night, third most for a match in the conference this year.

Hawai’i is second in the MPSF in service aces with 1.24 per set. Sedore is sixth in service aces with 0.36 per set.

The match will be broadcast live on BYUtv. Live stats and online video are available as well.

The winner of BYU and Hawai’i will take on the winner of No. 4 seed UCLA and No. 5 seed Pepperdine April 25 in the MPSF Semifinals. With BYU having the highest seed, should the Cougars win, Provo will be the host site for the remainder of the conference tournament.