The road to returning to the National Championship match won’t be easy for BYU, who faces a loaded and challenging schedule both in non-conference and conference play.
In total, BYU will match up with 12 opponents who ended 2017 ranked in the top 15 with a quartet of the bunch playing in the six team NCAA Tournament. That becomes prevalent right off the bat, as BYU takes on Loyola-Chicago (ranked 14th to end last season) in Provo on January 5. Immediately the next day they face Lewis, who ended the year ranked seventh.
After facing Ball State, ranked 12th to end last season, BYU has their calendar circled for a January 13th meeting with the team they lost to in the National Championship – Ohio State. A pair of matches with three teams all ranked or receiving votes to end last year in Barton (RV), UC Irvine (5) and UC Santa Barbara (RV) bring the season closer to conference play.
Following one more non-conference match against UC San Diego, BYU kicks off Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) play in an altered conference that features BYU, Concordia-Irvine, Grand Canyon, Pepperdine, Stanford, UCLA and USC. The changes came with the newly created Big West Conference for men’s volleyball poaching away several teams.
USC, who ended last year ranked 11th, is BYU’s first conference opponent on February 10. Following several other matches in conference play against ranked teams from last year in Grand Canyon (13), Stanford (9) twice, Pepperdine (8) and UCLA (6), a quick break out of conference occurs. Three top 10 teams from last year meet in Honolulu in Penn State, Lewis and Hawai’i before BYU rounds out MPSF play with five more matches.
Senior day will occur on March 31 against Grand Canyon with two road matches to follow that complete the regular season.
Last season, BYU made it to the National Championship match before falling to Ohio State as they ended the year ranked second in the AVCA Coaches Poll. Their full schedule in 2018 as they look to go one win further can be seen below:
* Conference Game
| Date | Opponent | Location | Time |
|---|
Provo, UT
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