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Cougar Spikers Escape Lions' Den
By Dorothy Knoell, The Provo Daily Herald
Nov. 29, 1999
PROVO -- The Penn State hex is broken -- at least, for now. The eighth-ranked BYU Cougars will not be heading to State College, Penn., should they make it through the NCAA sub-regional matches this weekend at the Smith Fieldhouse. Instead, the Cougars will be the guests of Pacific University for NCAA regional competition. Okay, so Pacific is no pushover. And so the Cougars' first two matches this weekend, against Princeton and, should they win, the winner of a match between Arizona State and Wisconsin, aren't givens, either. Still, BYU coach Elaine Michaelis is glad her team doesn't have Penn State on its home court looming in the distance for the third straight year. "It sure does feel good," Michaelis said of the assignment to a different regional. "Actually, I feel good about our seeding. It's there for us to go all the way to the Final Four. "There are a lot of good teams in this region, but we have a chance -- if we just show up to play." That last phrase was a reference to BYU's collapse in the Mountain West Confer-ence tournament finals Saturday in the Smith Fieldhouse. No. 12 Colorado State had its way with the Cougars, winning 15-8, 15-8, 15-12, after BYU had won the regular-season title just the week previous with a four-game win over CSU. Before getting too giddy about who they're not facing, the Cougars (26-4) have to get down to business against Princeton (23-6) Friday night at the Smith Fieldhouse. "I don't know anything about them yet," Michaelis admitted, "except that I assume they won their conference. We'll know more soon." The other matchup in BYU's sub-regional is Wisconsin (21-9) vs. Arizona State (14-12). Match times are 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., with BYU in the late-game slot. The championship game will be Saturday. BYU beat Arizona State 3-0 at ASU earlier this year. Should the Cougars make it through the sub-regional, they would likely face Florida (30-2) in the first round of the regionals at Pacific. Florida is the top seed in its sub-regional. Pacific is seeded to meet Clemson (31-2) in the other first-round match. This is BYU's 18th visit to the national tournament in the last 19 years. Not only did the Cougars avoid the Penn State curse -- BYU has trekked to back-of-beyond State College for two straight years and lost to the Nittany Lions -- but so did the entire Mountain West Conference NCAA tournament contingent. MWC tournament winner Colorado State (28-2) is hosting a sub-regional that includes its first-round opponent, Loyola-Illinois (24-9), along with Louisville and Kansas State. A win in the sub-regional would send CSU to Hawaii for the regionals. Utah (21-9) also got an invitation to the tournament, and will head to Hawaii for the first round, taking on Colorado (18-11) the first night. A victory would likely send the Utes against host Hawaii (27-1) in the sub-regional final.
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