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BYU still looking for ways to find success – Deseret News

When the BYU men’s volleyball season ended in a fifth-set defeat to Stanford last month in the MPSF tournament, it struck a nerve — a nagging nerve that plagued the Cougars on multiple occasions in big moments throughout the season. “Unfortunately, throughout the course of the year, we struggled to finish,” BYU coach Shawn Olmstead […]

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When the BYU men’s volleyball season ended in a fifth-set defeat to Stanford last month in the MPSF tournament, it struck a nerve — a nagging nerve that plagued the Cougars on multiple occasions in big moments throughout the season.

“Unfortunately, throughout the course of the year, we struggled to finish,” BYU coach Shawn Olmstead said. “We got ourselves in positions where we had every opportunity to (win).”

After getting to those positions, the school faltered on a few too many occasions — Stanford proving to be the last straw.

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In their final match of the year, the Cougars led late in the first set before watching the Cardinal roar past them, scoring nine of the final 12 points to beat a bewildered BYU 25-23.

“Every year we’re trying to figure out how we can get a little bit better attacking out at the pins; how we can get better from the service line,” Olmstead said. “Those are the keys to this game, to our level.”

—  BYU coach Shawn Olmstead

Stanford then cobbled together a similar ending in the final moments of the third set, using an 8-2 run that snatched a victory from the Cougars — who had three set-point opportunities — for a 27-25 triumph. The Cardinal sealed the match in a fifth-set victory that they never trailed.

“We had many opportunities to just capitalize and put away a set, and we didn’t,” Olmstead said of the match against Stanford. “We couldn’t put together the things (we needed to) down the stretch.”

BYU had similar opportunities slip through its fingertips in matches throughout the season — against No. 5 UC Irvine, No. 3 Hawaii, No. 6 USC and No. 2 UCLA.

“That kind of kept biting us in the butt,” Olmstead said. “We couldn’t overcome that. (Things) didn’t go the way we anticipated.”

Despite the Cougars’ nagging inconsistencies in some of their biggest moments of the year, they still finished with a No. 8 national ranking and 11 victories over teams that were listed in the final AVCA poll. The school’s greatest feat proved to be a pair of wins against MPSF tournament champion and No. 4 Pepperdine to close out the regular season.

“You try to learn from the great moments and you learn from the tough moments,” Olmstead said. “I thought we should have accomplished a little bit more down the stretch. And I think the guys feel that too and so that’s hard because a lot of those guys aren’t going to be with us next year. We’re going to be kind of a brand-new team.”

With the departure of five seniors, new NCAA roster regulations, and transfers, BYU could see more player turnover than normal this offseason.

“We knew that with the changing landscape of the NCAA and what is on the horizon … that the transfer portal was going to look … different than it has in years past,” Olmstead said. “We were right into the transfer portal immediately.”

The transfer portal has already yielded results for Olmstead and his staff as they retool the roster for 2026. Olmstead says next season the school will have more transfer players than it ever has had.

“I’m not allowed to comment on them specifically, because they’re going through the normal admissions that any athlete does in the transfer portal,” Olmstead said. “All of them are … guys that have played a lot in their respective programs, quite a bit actually. One of them is an All-American at (his) former school.”

BYU could look a lot different come next season, but it all is motivated by its desire to improve.

“Every year we’re trying to figure out how we can get a little bit better attacking out at the pins; how we can get better from the service line,” Olmstead said. “Those are the keys to this game, to our level.”

The Cougars won’t be able to get back together for official practices until school resumes next fall; however, Olmstead and his staff are staying busy doing all they can to address their team’s needs over the summer. They don’t want another season to end, feeling their team didn’t maximize its potential.

BYU setter Tyler Herget celebrates after BYU scores during a match against the Pepperdine at the George Albert Smith Fieldhouse in Provo on Saturday, April 19, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News



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