The BYU men's volleyball team is ranked second behind Pepperdine in the third annual MPSF Men's Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll, receiving 105 points and five first-place votes.

"Pepperdine has the player of the year returning in Jonathan Winder, and they're going to be tough to beat," BYU head coach Shawn Patchell. "(The No. 2 ranking) is a compliment to us. I think a lot of respect is given to us with our returning seniors."

The Cougars finished the 2007 season with a 23-6 overall record (18-4 MPSF) and lost to UC Irvine in the MPSF Tournament semi-finals. BYU returns a pair of All-Americans in outside hitter Ivan Perez and middle blocker Russell Holmes, in addition to the 2007 National Newcomer of the Year setter Yamil Perez.

Pepperdine, which won the conference regular season last year, topped the ballots with 108 points and five first-place votes to earn the No. 1 ranking.

• BYU women land high-ranked tennis recruits: The BYU women's tennis team has announced the signing of McCall Jones and Romina Nedakovic to national letter of intents, becoming the two players to sign with the Cougars for the 2008-2009 season.

A blue chip and five-star recruit, Jones received attention from the top tennis programs in the country, including, No. 1 Georgia Tech, No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 UCLA and No. 10 USC. Ranked No. 3 in California, the Coto De Caza native is the younger sister of former Cougar player Lauren Jones, who played for the Cougars throughout the 2003-2007 seasons.

Nedakovic, of Salt Lake City, is the No. 1 senior women's player in Utah and is ranked No. 2 in the Mountain Region.

• Cougar women's hoops return home: After two disappointing losses in Connecticut, the BYU women's basketball team looks to get back on the winning side when it returns home today to play New Mexico State in a 4:30 p.m. tip.

The game will air live on KOVO 960 AM.

• UVSC women's hoops to host Montana State: The UVSC women's basketball team will play host to Big Sky school Montana State today at 7 p.m.

The game can be heard live at WolverineGreen.com.

Junior Sandy Marvin was named the Division I Independent Player of the Week on Tuesday after leading the Wolverines to the championship at the Air Force Classic. Marvin averaged 24.0 points per game in wins over Ohio (83-81) and host Air Force (78-68).