On Dec. 11, the BYU men's volleyball team held a friendly little alumni match.

Talk about living up to expectations.

Many of those former Cougars could show off NCAA championship rings, or point to one of the three national title banners (1999, 2001, 2004) flying at the Smith Fieldhouse.

Russell Holmes and his BYU teammates want to get a championship of their own.

"We're looking forward to it," said Holmes, the Cougars All-American senior middle blocker. "I've been talking to the other seniors and we know the most important thing is chemistry. We're coming together as team. The desire is there, and we can win a national championship this year if we have that."

BYU received the most overall votes in the preseason CSTV/AVCA Top 15 poll, but No. 2 Pepperdine got the most first-place votes (nine). The Waves were picked to finish first in the ultra-competitive Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, BYU second.

"It's tough to start out No. 1," Holmes said. "Everyone is gunning for you, but we try not to think about it so much. We're just working on what to do every week to get closer to the title."

Holmes, who averaged 2.39 kills and 1.45 blocks per game in 2007, is a four-year starter and just one of BYU's outstanding group of returning players.

But there are some losses: All-American outside hitter Yosleyder Cala, a native Cuban, decided to play professionally in Puerto Rico; talented middle blocker Rodnei Santos opted to transfer to Pepperdine and freshman Robby Stowell, who led BYU with 342 kills last year, is serving an LDS mission.

In 2007, BYU won its first nine matches and earned the No. 1 ranking. The Cougars swept No. 2 UC Irvine 3-0 on Feb. 2 but then lost four straight matches. After that, BYU won 14 of 15 before losing to eventual national champion UC Irvine 3-2 in the MPSF semifinals and finished fourth in the final national rankings.

Here's a breakdown of the 2008 season.

Coaching

The job of meshing BYU's talent falls to Shawn Patchell. He was a co-coach with Ryan Millar last year but Millar left for the U.S. national team, which is preparing for this summer's Olympics. In June, BYU Athletics Director Tom Holmoe announced Patchell had been retained as the head coach on an interim basis even as an NCAA review of the men's volleyball program continues.

"To be honest, it could be a distraction," Patchell said, "but I really don't let it be a distraction. If you think about it, the majority of coaches at BYU are 'interim.'

"This isn't like an interim football coach coaching a bowl game. I played in this program and I've been coaching here for six years. Call me what you want, I'm ready to lead."

Patchell's first move was to make former Cougar Rob Neilson, a part-time assistant last season, his lead assistant coach.

Setter

BYU returns AVCA Freshman of the Year Yamil Perez (6-1 So.), who averaged 13.46 assists per game during his rookie season.

"Yamil had a great season," Patchell said, "but we have three very good setters. We have a couple of guys (6-2 Sr. Brian Congelliere and 6-3 So. Reed Chilton) who are right on his heels. Some days, they're better."

Perez proved to have the quickness and decision-making ability to spread the ball around to different hitters, the key to BYU's offensive attack.

"We pride ourselves at BYU in being well balanced," Patchell said. "We don't have just one go-to guy. We have some guys that could be a go-to guy, but we choose to run a balanced offense."

Outside Hitter/Opposite

All-American Ivan Perez (6-4 Sr.) and Andrew Stewart (6-6 So.) will start on the outside and Patchell is excited for the return of Jonathan Charette (6-2 Sr.), who redshirted in 2007, to play the opposite hitter position.

"Jonathan has worked extremely hard and he's one of our captains this year," Patchell said."He's earned that right. He leads by example in the weight room and he's extremely strong. It'll be exciting to have him back on the court. He's a lefty and has a huge jump, even bigger than two years ago."

Perez, who is attempting to make the Puerto Rican Olympic team, led BYU in overall points in 2007 and averaged 3.45 kills per game.

Patchell said Orem native Mat Taylor (6-6 So.) has improved and could see court time. True freshman Kevin Sagers (6-3 Fr.) from Las Vegas has been working as the Cougars serving specialist.

Middle Blocker

Holmes (6-8 Sr.) is one of the country's top middles and will be joined by Trent Sorensen (6-7 Sr.), who saw plenty of playing time in 2007. Behind those two the Cougars are green. Curtis Cohun (6-6 So.) has moved from outside hitter to middle blocker and is still learning the position. Patchell decided not to redshirt talented freshman Nick Valencia (6-7 Fr.) so he could get some experience as well.

Libero

Joel Silva (6-2 So.) returns at libero after averaging a team-leading 2.19 digs per game last season. Silva is trying to make the Venezuelan national team. Patchell said he likes the play of Leandro Justin (6-1 So.), who is from Brazil. Backup libero Andy Pompei transferred to Northridge.

Schedule

BYU opens the 2008 season with five matches on the road. The Cougars begin at UC San Diego on Friday and Saturday. Then comes a three-match Midwest swing as BYU plays at 2008 national runner-up IPFW, Lewis and Loyola-Chicago. The Cougars don't open at home until Jan. 25 and 26 with four-time NAIA champions Cal-Baptist.

As always, the MPSF schedule is brutal with road matches at defending national champion Cal-Irvine, UCLA, Long Beach State and Hawaii. Home highlights include matches against Northridge (Feb. 1-2) Pepperdine (March 7-8).

"I'm glad I scheduled some tough matches before we play Northridge," Patchell said. "They could be among the top two or three teams in the country."

Going for the title

The championship race looks wide open.

Patchell acknowledged that a lot of talent graduated from the top teams of 2007. BYU returns some senior leadership, and that's the main reason the Cougars are a favorite this season.

"Being ranked No. 1 to start means we're respected," Patchell said. "That's about it right now. We have a target on our chest, but that's nothing new.

"People respect us and we respect the teams in MPSF. And IPFW, who we play in a few weeks, is very good. Penn State will be very good, too."

Cal-Irvine lost four All-Americans from its title team, but will still be dangerous.

"When you win a national championship, that does something for your program," Patchell said.

Pepperdine also lost some key talent but returns AVCA Player of the Year Jonathan Winder (6-8 Jr. S) and outstanding opposite hitter Paul Carroll (6-8 Jr.). UCLA and long-time coach Al Scates consistently recruit the top prep talent in California as he chases that elusive 20th NCAA title.

"We've talked a lot about senior leadership, and that's what it came down to last year," Patchell said. "UCI had a lot of seniors on the floor. They had a little more experience and heart to pull out five-game match down 2-1. They out-gutted us. That's what we need and that's what we have this year. I'm calling on those guys (the seniors) to lead the charge."

• Daily Herald Sports Editor Darnell Dickson can be reached at 344-2555 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it