The Cougars’ 24-game schedule includes 12 conference games, in a two-game series, with all six of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation teams. BYU men’s volleyball remains in the MPSF after a 30+ year partnership, dating back to 1993.

Following the regular season, the 2024 MPSF Tournament will be hosted by USC from April 17-20. The 2024 NCAA Tournament will then be hosted by Long Beach State from May 2-4.

BYU will host two teams in Provo that qualified for the NCAA Tournament a season ago, including 2023 national champion UCLA. Grand Canyon University appeared in the 2023 NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history, falling to Long Beach State 3-1 in the quarterfinals.

The Cougars will also face the Long Island University Sharks for the first time in program history in February at the Smith Fieldhouse. LIU defeated top-seeded Saint Francis 3-0 to capture the inaugural 2023 Northeast Conference men’s volleyball championship. Long Island University officially added a men’s volleyball program to its athletic department in 2022.

In 2023, BYU men’s volleyball achieved a perfect 14-0 home record in the Smith Fieldhouse, with a 19-7 overall record. The team finished with 1,220 kills, 1,157 assists, 117 aces, 786 digs and 259 blocks in 2023. Head coach Shawn Olmstead also accomplished 150 career wins as the BYU men’s volleyball head coach when the Cougars defeated Stanford in four sets on April 14, 2023.

The Cougars bring back outside hitter Miks Ramanis who was an all-American honorable mention by the American Volleyball Coaches Association as part of its 2023 awards. It was the sophomore’s first honor from the AVCA. Ramanis was also named to the 2023 All-MPSF First Team. Middle blocker Gavin Julien was named 2023 All-MPSF Honorable Mention and Trent Moser was named to the 2023 MPSF All-Freshman Team. Both Julien and Moser return for the 2024 season.

On the defensive side, junior middle blocker Teon Taylor returns as a 2023 finalist for Off the Block’s Blocker of the Year, finishing the 2023 season with a career-high of 14 solo blocks and 135 total blocks.

AF’s Simmons headlines Cougar men’s track/cross country signing class

BYU men’s track and field and cross country announced the signings of Landon Heemeyer, Tyler Mathews and the nation’s No.1 ranked cross country runner, Daniel Simmons, on Tuesday.

“I think we’ve had an excellent recruiting cycle,” said BYU Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Ed Eyestone. “You can’t be too disappointed when you sign two of the fastest cross country runners and one of the best 800-meter athletes in the nation. I think Coach Ryan Waite has done an excellent job in making sure that we talk with the best guys in the country. Recruiting is a constant need, which can get neglected. I feel like through this cycle we’ve done an excellent job with maintaining and establishing those relationships.”

Simmons comes from American Fork where he had an excellent high school career.

“As the top junior nationals runner last year, he was obviously very highly recruited by everybody in the country, so it was really exciting when he chose us over some really good schools,” BYU assistant coach/recruiting coordinator Ryan Waite said. “He’s a guy that looks like he could come and be an immediate player for us his freshman year, which is really hard to do. In men’s cross country, you move up from 5k distance in high school to the 10k at the collegiate level, and he’s the kind of guy that looks like he can handle that jump immediately. We have hopes he’ll be a big part of what we do, right from the get go.”

Heeymeyer comes from Rocky Mountain High School in Meridian, Idaho.

“Landon comes from a really, really strong program that has a great history of producing great athletes,” Waite said. “We’re really excited to continue that tradition of bringing guys in from Rocky Mountain. He’s just tough as nails. When he took ninth at Footlocker Championships his junior year, there were many guys went out in that front pack with him and couldn’t hold that crazy pace. He just kept digging and digging and digging in. He did the same thing this weekend at the Nike Cross Regional meet, where he finished second. He has a really, really bright future. He’s gonna do well on the collegiate level and especially in the BYU system.”

Mathews comes in as a mid-distance runner from Red Mountain High School in Mesa, Arizona.

“Tyler is so versatile,” Waite said. “He’s got incredible 400-meter speed. He’s a state champion in the mile. He was the number one 800-meter runner for the class of 2024. He’s a guy that is going to have a huge impact, especially as we’re entering the Big 12 where there’s a lot of middle distance events during indoor season. It’s going to be really, really big for our team to have somebody that can come in and be pretty versatile in events they will potentially run at the conference championship. He’s a guy that has Olympic aspirations long term, and we’re excited that he chose us.”

BYU swimming inks eight newcomers

BYU swimming announced eight additions to the program as athletes from around the country signed with the Cougars on national signing day on Wednesday.

Brad Binns, Nathaniel Eliason and Scott McMillan each signed with BYU men’s swimming while the women will be joined by Jasmine Anderson, MJ Bezzant, Sarah Eliason, Haylee Tiffany and Lucy Warnick.

Tiffany, who is at Lone Peak High, is the only Utah swimmer who signed with the Cougars.