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Oklahoma City • In collegiate volleyball, tradition is a word usually reserved for schools like UCLA, Stanford, Hawaii and Nebraska.

Perennial powers all, each with multiple championships. Of late, no shelves sag more than those at Penn State, winners of five of the past seven NCAA Division I titles.

When upstart BYU (30-4) meets Penn State (34-3) in Saturday night's national championship finals, the Cougars will be seeking their first women's volleyball title. But BYU has a tradition of its own, proudly responsible for volleyball innovation around the globe.

From 1961 to 2002, Elaine Michaelis led the Cougar women to 886 victories. Since 1981, when the NCAA added women's sports, BYU's 849 wins is ninth on the all-time list.

The BYU men won the first of three NCAA titles in 1999. The coach of that team, Carl McGown, was a BYU professor with little volleyball experience. McGown famously revolutionized the game by systematically recording and evaluating myriad elements of every training session and match. McGown introduced new schemes for blocking and passing, and implored athletes to focus only on those parts of each rally that specifically lead to success.

Major elements of McGown's system have since been adopted by thousands of programs worldwide, including the USA National Teams, coached by Karch Kiraly (women) and John Speraw (men). Many of McGown's former players have become prominent women's coaches, including Hugh McCutcheon (Minnesota), Kevin Hambly (Illinois), Jason Watson (Arizona State) and Rob Browning (St. Mary's).

In Provo, the philosophy is at the core of both the men's team (now coached by McGown's son, Chris), and by Shawn Olmstead's women's team, now preparing for the 2014 Finals.

"Both the men's and women's programs have been remarkable," said Olmstead. "All the wins that Elaine (Michaelis) got. What Carl started from just nothing."

This year's BYU women lead the nation in blocking, a skill that frustrated the Cougars' three most recent opponents: Florida State, Nebraska and Texas. Each of those teams seemed flustered by BYU's ability to seal off the outside and press far over the net. But it was the Cougars' ability to quickly identify the opposing setter's target that made Olmstead's system click.

"I want the kids to really see what's happening," says Olmstead of his blockers. "You're not just watching over there; you gotta see. See that it's a bad pass or it's a little tight to the net." Like most coaches, Olmstead knows blocking alone cannot win a championship. To beat Penn State, the Cougars will need to serve well enough to force bad passes and limit the options of the Nittany Lions' exceptional setter, Micha Hancock.

In turn, BYU's passers will need to offer maximum support to freshman setter Alohi Robins-Hardy, whose athleticism has helped her blossom during the tournament.

And with one match remaining, Olmstead and his staff have pretty much finished teaching volleyball. All that's left is to set the right tone.

"It's the best experience I've ever had," said outside hitter Alexa Gray. "I'm not an uptight person. I like to have fun. So, I'm not going to stop what I've been doing just because we're in a higher-level game."

At the annual American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) banquet, Jennifer Hamson was named a First Team All-American for the second time, while Gray was selected to the Second Team. —

BYU vs. Penn State

P At Oklahoma City

Saturday, 5:30 p.m.

TV • ESPN2