Four Cougars receive All-America honors

PROVO, Utah—The American Volleyball Coaches Association named four BYU men's volleyball players to its All-America lists announced Monday. 

Sophomore opposite Ben Patch and sophomore outside hitter Brenden Sander collected First Team All-America honors, while junior outside hitter Jake Langlois received Second Team All-America accolades and sophomore setter Leo Durkin was added to the All-America Honorable Mention list.

Patch, a native of Provo, Utah, was the lone repeat first teamer on the list - having received First Team honors following his freshman campaign in 2013. He is the fifth Cougar to be a repeat first teamer, with the last being Taylor Sander. Patch helped the team this year with 4.41 kills per set while hitting at a .389 clip and adding 1.14 digs per set and 0.71 blocks per set.

Sander, from Huntington Beach, California, collects First Team honors for the first time in his career. He becomes the 25th different Cougar to collect First Team honors. Sander helped BYU this season with 3.13 kills per set while hitting a .383 percentage and adding 1.07 digs per set and 0.76 blocks per set.

Langlois, from San Jose, California, receives All-America honors for the first time in his career. Out of BYU's 45 total All-America certificates (27 total All-Americans), he is the 20th to earn a Second Team honor. Langlois contributed 3.07 kills per set, a .317 hitting percentage while chipping in 1.41 digs per set and 0.92 blocks per set.

Durkin, a native of Las Vegas, Nevada, collects Honorable Mention accolades for the first time in his career. He set the Cougars this year to a .363 clip, the second-highest in the BYU rally-scoring era, while adding 10.54 assists per set. He also contributed 1.35 digs per set and 0.66 blocks per set.

The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation had a nation-high 15 All-America citations this season, with seven first-teamers and eight second-teamers.

The 2016 selections were made by the AVCA Division I-II Men's Volleyball All-America Committee: chairperson Dan Friend (Lewis); Sam Shweisky (Princeton); Brian Baise (Harvard); Jay Hosack (George Mason); Pete Hanson (Ohio State); Ryan Perotte (IPFW); Kevin Ring (UC San Diego), Alan Knipe (Long Beach State); Charlie Wade (Hawai'i); David Heller (Mount Olive), Brandon Skweres (Limestone) and Ryan Booher (King).

Visit the AVCA website for more information on the AVCA All-America teams.

BYU faces Long Beach State in the national semifinals of the NCAA tournament Thursday, May 5, at 6 p.m. EDT. The match will be streamed live on the NCAA.com website.