BYU volleyball looking for altitude adjustment
It's more than a return to a championship level, although four years have passed since the Cougars won a MPSF semifinal match — let alone claimed the MPSF tourney title, reached the NCAA Final Four or captured the national championship.
But in order to regain that championship form, BYU must concern itself about performing best at a different level — sea level.
The Cougars are in Long Beach, Calif., this week for the conclusion of the MPSF tournament — including BYU's semifinal match tonight against Cal State Northridge — and hope to return the following week at neighboring Irvine for the 2008 Final Four.
With Provo at a Rocky Mountain elevation of 4,549 feet and the West Coast cities of Long Beach and Irvine at 29 and 208 feet, respectively, the Cougars are having to relearn what effects a sea-level altitude and Southern California's higher humidity have on serving, passing and setting.
It's such a drastic difference that BYU arrived in Long Beach a day earlier than usual to readjust — despite the Cougars having played five two-match series this season in California and Hawaii.
Senior outside hitter Ivan Perez says balls that would carry out of bounds in Provo's thinner air tend to stay in play when the Cougars compete in California.
"The court seems to be bigger — the ball just falls," he said. "It's a problem, too, with passing."
MPSF opponents traveling to Provo's Smith Fieldhouse face the inverse challenge, where their serves, kills and passes tend to take off and fly much farther than expected.
UC Irvine, last year's national champion, experienced that in last week's quarterfinal loss at BYU, with the Anteaters struggling for the first two sets to serve successfully.
"The hardest thing you have to deal with when you come here is serving," said UCI coach John Speraw following the Provo match. "It presents a fascinating challenge because you train all season long to hit a ball a certain way, and then it just doesn't work anymore."
And so, with the "serving is everything" premium that Patchell and BYU place on each play's inaugural moment, the Cougars hope that this week's extra SoCal practice time pays off.
"We need to go (early) to learn how to serve again," Patchell said. "It's a totally different serve for a jump server . Even a float server may end up putting a bunch in the middle of the net."
Recent comments
Actually, BYU probably only needs to beat CSUN tonight to go to the…
Re: Steven Facer | April 24, 2008 at 2:25 p.m.
GO COUGARS!
We can do it, beat LBSU and go to the final 4.
Steven Facer | April 24, 2008 at 10:49 a.m.
