Cougars' woes are historic

PROVO — To say the BYU men's volleyball team has struggled down the stretch of the 2006 season is an understatement.

After a four-week midseason run as the nation's top-ranked team through early March, the Cougars have been tumbling ever since — dropping six of their final 10 regular-season matches, suffering its first four-match losing skid since 1996 and opening up the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament on the road for the first time in four years.

Yes, it's been that kind of homestretch for the Cougars (18-8, 14-8 MPSF), who lost a pair last week at Hawaii and another pair the week before at Long Beach State to finish tied with the latter for fourth in 2006's final Mountain Pacific standings.

And because the 49ers swept the Cougars in their two regular-season meetings, Long Beach State — now ranked No. 3 in this week's AVCA/CSTV Top 15 poll — wins the tiebreaker and earns the right to host fifth-ranked BYU in Saturday's MPSF quarterfinal opener for both teams.

The only way now for BYU to advance to the early May NCAA Final Four and contend for its fourth national championship in seven years is to win the MPSF tournament and claim the league's automatic berth.

An at-large invitation is out of the question, given the Cougars' downward spiral and the fact that top-ranked UC Irvine (27-3, 20-2 MPSF) and second-ranked Hawaii (23-4, 19-3) have racked up 21 and 19 consecutive victories, respectively.

To do that, the Cougars have to beat the 49ers in Long Beach, then tournament host UC Irvine in the MPSF semifinals (the Anteaters have a bye through the semifinals), and then upset the likes of Hawaii or fourth-ranked Pepperdine in the championship match.

Possible? Yes.

Probable? Not likely, seeing as the Cougars have hit some lows of late that date back a half-dozen seasons and others to a full decade.

Consider that BYU's 18-8 regular-season record includes the fewest victories since the 18 in 2000 and 16 in 1998 as well as the most losses since last year's nine and 14 in 1996.

The Cougars' 14-8 Mountain Pacific record makes for the fewest league victories since 2000's 13 and the most league losses the 12 MPSF losses in 1996. (BYU played 16 MPSF matches annually from 1990-92, 19 from 1993-2000; 17 in 2001 and 22 each season since 2002.)

BYU's fourth-place tie in the league standings is its worse since a fifth-place finish in 1996.