BYU campus briefs

SOFTBALL: A voting panel of the six Mountain West Conference head coaches chose defending softball league champion BYU as the favorite to win the 2010 MWC regular season title. The Cougars collected four first-place votes and 24 total points. San Diego State was a close second with 22 points and two first-place votes, while UNLV was picked third, totaling 17 points. Utah collected 10 points for fourth place in the poll, while Colorado State (nine points) and New Mexico (eight points) claimed fifth and sixth place, respectively, to round out the preseason rankings.

In 2009, BYU (40-18 overall, 12-2 MWC) collected its fifth consecutive 40-win season on its way to a fourth MWC regular-season title and fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance. The Cougars return 15 letterwinners from that squad, including junior All-American catcher Jessica Purcell-Fitu and 2009 All-MWC selections Paige Affleck (Jr., P), Christie Zinanti (Sr., P), Andrea Ramirez (Sr., 1B) and Angeline Quiocho (Sr., OF).

Utah (22-31 overall, 4-10 MWC) enters the 2010 season with 2009 all-conference performer Kara Foster (Sr., OF) headlining six returning starters.

The 2010 MWC softball season is set to begin on Thursday, Feb. 11, as BYU takes on San Jose State at the Red Desert Classic in St. George, Utah, and San Diego State faces Creighton at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz. Conference play opens April 9, with three games on the docket.

VOLLEYBALL: The No. 4 BYU men's volleyball team (5-2, 3-1 MPSF) heads out on its first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation road trip to take on No. 6 UCLA (3-4, 2-2 MPSF) for a two-match series this weekend. This will mark the second and third meetings between the two teams this season, as they previously met in the second round of the UC Santa Barbara Invitational. BYU defeated UCLA, 3-2, in that match on Jan. 7.

The Bruins are coming off an upset sweep over then-No. 2 Cal State Northridge on Jan. 23. Playing in a hostile environment, UCLA handed the Matadors their first loss of the 2010 season.

Although the Bruins lead the all-time series against the Cougars, BYU is 12-6 against UCLA since the beginning of the 2001 National Championship season. A weekend sweep for either team has been hard to come by in Los Angeles, with each series ending in a split dating back to 2002. Twenty-four of the 44 total meetings between BYU and UCLA have resulted in sweeps, while 12 have gone to four sets and only eight have reached the five-set mark. The two teams split two matches played in Provo last season.