What is it about playing away from home that is so vexing for the No. 6 Cougars?

After 10 consecutive matches in Provo, including the entire month of February, the No. 6-ranked BYU men’s volleyball team will hit the road this week for the first time in MPSF play to face No. 7 Stanford, where the Cougars have not beaten the Cardinal since 2019.

“We need to (win on the road). We saw that and we knew that that hurt us a little bit (last year). … No doubt, we’ve got to be better on the road in conference. That’s a big, big deal for us.”

—  BYU coach Shawn Olmstead

However, the school’s road woes have not been isolated to Maples Pavilion. In the last two seasons, the Cougars have won a grand total of three league matches away from home — two of the three coming a season ago against last-place Concordia. Friday will begin a stretch of four straight conference contests outside of Provo, starting with a pair of matches at Stanford and ending with two more against No. 10 Pepperdine. After returning home to match up against Concordia, BYU will again head to California to finish its regular season with contests at No. 12 USC.

BYU is keenly aware of its road struggles in recent seasons, making the next few weeks a priority.

“We need to (win on the road),” BYU coach Shawn Olmstead said. “We saw that and we knew that that hurt us a little bit (last year). … No doubt, we’ve got to be better on the road in conference. That’s a big, big deal for us.”

If BYU can win one of its two matches at Maples Pavilion, it would give the school its fourth road win of the year, equaling last year’s total. A series sweep would mark the Cougars’ most victories away from home since 2021, when they won eight.

So far this year in contests played away from the Smith Fieldhouse, BYU has gone 3-1. Arguably BYU’s best win away from home came against Loyola Chicago, which is ranked No. 11 in the AVCA Men’s Volleyball Poll.

Olmstead was pleased with the way his team weathered the storm to ultimately earn a victory earlier this season against the Ramblers. “I’m proud that our team collectively found a way to win,” he said after beating Loyola Chicago in five sets. “There were highs and lows tonight, and we told our players before the match that we were confident we would need every single person to play their part. … In the end, they stayed in it and responded well.”

The school will need to respond well to a difficult schedule down the stretch of the season, facing on the road twice each three ranked league foes. However, playing some of the nation’s best will not be a new experience for BYU.

“I think almost everyone on our schedule is in the top 20,” Olmstead said. “That’s big time and most of them are in the top 15. And a plethora are in the top 10. So it’s a really tough schedule.”

Olmstead hoped that the tough road matches his team played at the beginning of the season would pay dividends in the weekends ahead.

“These games were exactly what we wanted and needed out of this road trip,” he…