1 / 2

BYU's Luke Benson (1) celebrates a point during a men's college volleyball match against Stanford at the Smith Fieldhouse on Saturday, April 15, 2023.

Donovan Kelly, BYU Photo

2 / 2

BYU's Miks Ramanis celebrates a point during a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match against UCLA in the Smith Fieldhouse on Friday, February 23, 2024.

Joey Garrison, BYU Photo

❮ ❯

BYU junior outside hitters Luke Benson and Miks Ramanis received honorable mention by the American Volleyball Coaches Association as part of its 2024 All-American awards, announced Monday morning.

Benson led the BYU men’s volleyball team in kills (297), points (335.5) and total attempts (605) this season. He averaged 3.45 kills per set and 1.02 digs per set. The junior started in 21 matches and finished with 297 kills on a .344 hitting percentage, with 19 aces, 37 blocks and 88 digs. Benson was also named to the 2024 All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation First Team and won MPSF Offensive Player of the Week two times. This is Benson’s first-ever honor from the AVCA.

Ramanis finished with 239 kills, 108 digs, 24 aces and 36 blocks, averaging 2.88 kills per set and 1.30 digs per set. The junior started in 23 matches and finished with a .278 hitting percentage. He was recently named to the 2024 All-MPSF Second Team. Last season, Ramanis was also named a 2023 AVCA Honorable Mention All-American.

Daniel Fabikovic was awarded Newcomer of the Year. Player of the Year, Coach of the Year and Assistant Coach of the Year will be announced later this week at the NCAA Tournament.

Cougar women’s tennis earns NCAA invite

INDIANAPOLIS — BYU women’s tennis was selected to its 18th all-time NCAA Tournament and first since 2007 with an at-large bid announced on Thursday. The Cougars will face Auburn on May 3 in the first round hosted by Cal.

BYU will play Auburn in the first round with a chance to advance to the second round on Saturday. The No. 10 seeded Golden Bears will face Sacramento State in their opening matchup. The winner of the Cougars/Tigers match and the Golden Bears/Hornets match will face-off on Saturday.

The match with Auburn will be the first-ever meeting between the two programs. BYU is familiar with playing in Berkeley, as its competed in the Cal Fall Invitational in each of the last three seasons.

The Cougars finished their historic regular season with 17 wins, the most since 2007, along with eight conference victories for a fifth-place finish in their inaugural Big 12 campaign.

The Big 12 has six teams in the tournament, led by No. 1 overall seed Oklahoma State.

Match times for the NCAA Tournament will be updated in the coming days.

Cougars ink Buffalo transfer Hattie Ogden

Ogden is a 6-foot-2 forward from Magrath, Alberta, Canada and will join the Cougars for their second Big 12 campaign.

“Hattie is a knockdown 3-point shooter that will help us stretch the floor and create mismatches this year,” BYU coach Amber Whiting said. “Hattie brings a wealth of experience and maturity to our program and will be a huge asset to our team on and off the floor.”

Ogden played two seasons at the University of Buffalo where she appeared in 62 games, starting 36 before transferring to BYU. In her time as a Bull, the incoming junior averaged 6.5 points on 37.2 percent shooting, going 34.7 percent from three-point range. She also grabbed 3.7 rebounds per game, dished 1.1 assists and recorded nearly a steal per game.

She recorded 43 steals (1.3 spg) last season while leading Buffalo with 19 blocks on the year. On Nov. 14, 2023, Ogden scored a career-high 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting, going 2-for-4 from downtown in a 92-75 win over Niagra. She also knocked down a career-high six threes in a 70-61 win over Maryland Eastern Shore.

Before her time at Buffalo, Ogden averaged 24 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and six steals during her senior year at Magrath High School while shooting 42.8 percent from downtown. She recorded 14 double-doubles, seven triple-doubles and a quadruple-double while leading the Magrath Pandas to the 4A Provincial final for the first time in school history. Ogden earned First Team All-Star honors in both her junior and senior seasons. She played AAU ball for the Kia Nurse EYBL team, which is widely recognized as Canada’s top AAU program.

Ogden is the daughter of Darin and Tabatha Ogden and has four siblings. She had two uncles, Jadon and Aaron, who each suited up for the Cougar football team from 2004-06 and 2007-11 respectively. The biology major also played hockey for eight years until she was 14 years old.

Newsletter