Y. spikers on road for playoffs

All season, the BYU men's volleyball team anticipated opening the 2006 postseason in one Happy Valley and ending it in another Happy Valley.

The former — opening at home in Provo — is impossible, as the Cougars begin Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament play tonight in Long Beach, Calif.

But reaching the NCAA Final Four — hosted this year by Penn State, with the State College, Pa., area also known as "Happy Valley" — rests on BYU's ability to reverse history and turn a four-game late-season slump into a three-victory playoff streak.

Fifth-ranked BYU (18-8) faces No. 3 Long Beach State (21-9) at The Walter Pyramid in tonight's quarterfinals, the first time since 2000 the Cougars have opened the MPSF playoffs on the road.

BYU is 0-5 all-time in tournament openers away from Provo, most recently in 2000.

Eight of the 12 Mountain Pacific teams qualified for the 2006 tournament, with the top seed earning a quarterfinal bye and the right to host the semifinals and finals. Seeds Nos. 2, 3 and 4 host their quarterfinals.

Atop the national polls and MPSF standings midway through the season, the Cougars looked to be a lock as a quarterfinal host — with a good chance to host the semis and finals in Provo.

But BYU dropped its last four regular-season matches and six of its last 10, falling into a tie for fourth in the final standings with Long Beach. The 49ers won the tiebreaker — and the right to host — with a two-match sweep of the Cougars two weeks ago.

Those two matches started opposite four-match streaks — The Beach riding consecutive wins and BYU slumping with as many losses.

To qualify for the NCAA Final Four, BYU is forced to win the MPSF Tournament and claim the automatic berth afforded the tourney champ. Similar berths go to the champions from the other two NCAA Division I leagues.

A fourth "at-large" berth is available, but it will likely go to either top-ranked and Mountain Pacific regular-season champion UC Irvine or second-round and MPSF runner-up Hawaii — whichever doesn't win the league tournament. The two are the nation's hottest teams, with UCI having won 21 consecutive matches and Hawaii 19.

So, BYU's road to Pennsylvania's Happy Valley goes through California — the Cougars need to upset Long Beach in tonight's quarterfinals, knock off the top-ranked Anteaters in Irvine in the semis and then triumph in the finals against the winner of the projected semifinal between Hawaii and Pepperdine.

All it will take is back-to-back-to-back victories against teams that BYU has a '06 combined record of 1-7 (0-2 vs. UCI, Hawaii and Long Beach and 1-1 vs. Pepperdine).