Volleyball: BYU's Tavana, Sander are First-Team All-Americans

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BYU volleyball stars Futi Tavana and Taylor Sander were named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association All-America First Team, the AVCA announced Thursday morning. Tavana is a senior and Sander is a sophomore.

The Cougars play a MPSF semifinal match against Stanford on Thursday night at USC's Galen Center in Los Angeles. The match begins at 6 p.m. MDT and will be televised by BYUtv.

Sander did not play in Stanford's sweep of BYU in early February in Provo. The 6-foot-4 outside hitter is second nationally with a .400 attack percentage and 4.8 kills per set. He is an AVCA All-American for the second time.

Tavana, a 6-8 middle blocker, is now a three-time All-American.

USC had four players named to the team and freshman Micah Christenson is the Newcomer of the Year.

Stanford and UCLA had three players apiece named to the team, while UC Irvine received two.