Posts: 13,599
Threads: 379
Joined: Dec 1969
Not to rain on anyone's parade, but I think BYU will be middle of the pack or just above it by midseason, for at least five reasons:
1. They lost Senior All-MPSF HM OH Phil Fuchs to graduation.
2. Winning at BYU is tough. they bring 5,000 fans and they're right on top of you. And Stanford won in their house after being down 2-1.
3. They have a first year coach in Olmstead. Personally, I think he's overmatched.
4. They had two Juniors and a soph on the All-MPSF second team last year:
  - Matt Underwood, who is on the team roster but didn't play.
  - Jake Langlois (from Santa Teresa High in San Jose) should be coming into his own, but he's hitting .244, not great for an OH.
  - Michael Hatch is a .250 hitting MB, which is really low for a middle
5. Brendan Sander is their starting OH as a sophomore. His older brother, Taylor Sander was amazing, the best player of his generation, a four time all American, three times on the first team, on the US Men's National team and playing professionally in Italy, FIVA International Tournament MVP in 2014. Brendan, shall we say, is a very good player but clearly not on his brother's level.
6. Their passing is a little suspect, from my perspective, and their serving is sloppy.
Stanford committed 60 errors in the match, BYU committed 47. Stanford was by far the better passing and serving team. I like Stanford's chances this year.
Audaces fortuna iuvat
