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Provo • Undefeated in April (4-0) after going winless in March (0-6), BYU men's volleyball team will try to keep its late-season momentum going on Saturday in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation quarterfinal match at USC.
If the Cougars don't, their season will be over.
First serve is at 6:05 p.m. MDT in USC's Galen Center.
The No. 8-ranked Trojans (18-8, 15-7 MPSF) got the fourth seed and the home match because they finished a game ahead of No. 6 BYU (17-9, 14-8) in the league standings.
The clubs split regular-season matches in Los Angeles, with USC winning the first encounter in five sets and BYU taking the next night's match in four. The Cougars are trying to win their third straight MPSF tournament, but to do so, they will have to win three straight matches away from Smith Fieldhouse, where they have one of the best home-court advantages in Division I-II college volleyball.
McGown said last weekend's sweep of then-No. 1 Hawaii might have been just what the up-and-down Cougars needed.
"Any time you can play great toward the end of the year, it is big. We are hoping that this kind of catapults us back into the elite, more than anything," McGown said. "To put up a fighting effort two nights in a row, I think that helps us going forward."
On Thursday, five BYU players received MPSF honors. Junior middle blocker Michael Hatch, sophomore outside hitter Jake Langlois and junior opposite Matt Underwood were named to the all-conference second team, while senior Phil Fuchs made honorable mention and Brenden Sander made the all-freshman team.
Sander earned AVCA and MPSF Player of the Week honors after leading the Cougars past Hawaii.
"The level [Sander] has gotten to in the last three weeks has been remarkable," McGown said. "He was phenomenal down the stretch, really composed, and took some huge swings and made a bunch of really big plays for us."
Twitter: @drewjay —
No. 6 BYU at No. 8 USC
P MPSF quarterfinal, 6:05 p.m. MDT
Live stats • BYUcougars.com