PROVO — An offseason full of highs and lows will come to an end Friday night, when the No. 2-ranked men's volleyball team kicks off its 2007 campaign at the Smith Fieldhouse against Cal-Baptist.

This will be the second straight year the Cougars open their home slate with back-to-back matches against the Lancers, who have won three straight NAIA titles. Last year, Cal-Baptist pulled off a 3-2 upset of BYU in the first match before being swept in the second.

It has been a tumultuous offseason for BYU, which was thrown into uncertainty when head coach Tom Peterson abruptly resigned last August. Former assistant coach Shawn Patchell, who has been with the program for four years, and former star player Ryan Millar, who is in his first year as a coach with the program, took over the team as co-head coaches on an interim basis.

The team played well through the period of transition, posting a 4-2 record in exhibition play. The Cougars split four matches at the

Canadian-American Challenge in Edmonton, Canada, then returned to the States and swept a pair of matches against conference foe and perennial powerhouse Pepperdine.

In the CSTV/AVCA preseason coaches poll released Dec. 21, BYU collected three first-place votes and landed in second place behind UC-Irvine.

This weekend's matches, which will be played Friday and Saturday night at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse, will be the first of four straight home matches to start the season for BYU. The Cougars will begin conference play next weekend when defending national champion and preseason No. 3 UCLA comes to town.

WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS: The women's gymnastics team also begins competition this weekend, though most fans probably won't be able to see the opening meet.

The women will be one of four NCAA teams to compete in the 2007 Cancun Classic, a meet that hosts both collegiate and club teams. The Cougars will face Auburn, Iowa State and Missouri at the meet.

The Cougars will be back in Provo next week for their home opener, when they host Texas Women's on Jan. 12 at 7 p.m.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: After a tough road loss at Oregon last week, the women's basketball team is on the road again this week, kicking off Mountain West Conference play with a pair of tough out-of-state games.

The Cougars will be at Air Force on Saturday, then head down to New Mexico for a Wednesday night game. The team has a much more pleasant stretch waiting for it at the end of the trip, as the Cougars will play three straight at home, beginning with Wyoming on Jan. 13.

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E-mail: jtwitchell@desnews.com