The Cougars are waiting. And so are their fans.

Heading into this week’s critical two-match series with No. 4 Hawaii, No. 3 Brigham Young had pretty much sold out the 5,000-seat Smith Fieldhouse, days in advance. Fans will see two of the hottest teams in men’s collegiate volleyball — the Rainbow Warriors have won their past 15, the Cougars their past 11 — in battles that could ultimately decide who wins the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title, and overall hosting duties for the MPSF tournament as the top seed, as well as potentially knock out someone as a top-four seed.

Something’s gotta give. And history is on the side of Smith Fieldhouse.

It is where many very good teams have seen their successful seasons die and that includes some of Hawaii’s best. The Warriors have not won in Provo, Utah, since splitting the series in 2003, and have lost the past 13.

Overall, Hawaii is 2-24 at BYU with the lone wins coming in 1995 — a final-four season — and the aforementioned 2003 campaign where the Cougars would eventually eliminate the Warriors in an MPSF semifinal played at Pepperdine.

“Both teams are playing really well and someone will have to lose,” said BYU assistant Jaylen Reyes, a four-year starting libero for the Cougars (2012-15) and an all-state selection at Kamehameha Schools. “We will try to take away what they do best and they will try to take away what we do best.

“Hawaii passes really well, is in-system a lot. And Stijn (sophomore opposite van Tilburg) is playing really, really well, has unreal numbers. The two things they do best are Stijn and passing. That’s what we need to do focus on.”

Of concern to the Warriors is the Cougars’ balance. While junior All-American opposite Ben Patch (4.83 kps) may miss an eighth straight match due to injury, BYU has plenty of other weapons with which to be concerned … and those weapons are tall.

In the Cougars’ previous match, a sweep at Pepperdine, they started senior hitter Jake Langlois (6-10), senior middle Joseph Grosh (6-7), junior opposite Tim Dobbert (6-10), junior middle Price Jarman (6-8), junior hitter Brenden Sander (6-4) and junior setter Leo Durkin (6-4). BYU is third in blocks in the conference (2.47 bps), behind national leader Hawaii (2.74 bps) and No. 2 Long Beach State (2.69 bps).

In Patch’s absence, Langlois has increased his kill average to 3.95 per set and Sander to 2.83. The other three attackers average at least 1.07 kps.

“There’s a lot of factors that you can say play into why teams don’t do well (at BYU),” Hawaii assistant coach Joshua Walker, who went 0-4 at BYU during his Warrior career (2008-11). “You can talk about the altitude, the air being thinner but in the end they’re just a good team with good players.

“If you don’t play well, you don’t have a chance to win. We’ve played well there and still haven’t pulled it out. In the end, the fact is BYU has outplayed the teams that go there.”

Except, that is, for the MPSF home opener on Jan. 27 when UC Irvine took a 2-0 lead then pulled it out in five. That more than gives the Warriors hope, given that Hawaii won at UCI in four on Jan. 21, the first victory of the Warriors current win streak.

“We’re really excited about playing them, they’re a really good team and it’s a good opportunity that is in front of us,” Hawaii senior hitter Kupono Fey said. “They really pack it in their gym.

“There’s less serving room there but the lines (on the court) are all the same. We’ll go in, get adjusted to their gym, get used to everything, so that it’s not a surprise.”

The Warriors left a day earlier than usual, taking the red-eye on Tuesday night in order to arrive on Wednesday. Hawaii hasn’t dropped a set since Set 2 vs. UC Santa Barbara on Feb. 4, a school-record streak of 32 sets in a row.

“It’s an exciting time of year,” Warrior coach Charlie Wade said. “The guys have worked hard, played well for a while. We get a chance to go back on the road and see if we can continue to play well against a really good opponent.

“I don’t think the mind-set changes or if it does, I hope it’s that there’s more resolve, more focus. If there’s anything that’s significant for us it’s the time-zone difference (4 hours ahead of Hawaii). But teams go there and lose because they have really good players.”

While the Warriors were happy that their win over Stanford last Saturday was their 10th consecutive sweep, the players said that there was much to work on. Several pointed to how “loose” Set 3 got against the Cardinal where a 17-9 lead was cut to 20-17.

“I’m glad the players recognize that,” Wade said. “I think this group is pretty dialed into the task at hand. We’ll see how it all plays out. There’s still a lot of volleyball to be played.”

And that volleyball is significant. After this week, Hawaii hosts Cal State Northridge on March 24-25 and finishes the regular season at UCLA April 7-8.

If play were to end today, Long Beach State would be seeded No. 1 in the MPSF tournament followed by BYU, Hawaii and UC Irvine. But the 49ers still have to travel to BYU for two next week.

“You never know, you could go full craziness when thinking about who could upset who, who wins the (automatic bids) from the tournament,” Wade said. “Hawaii, BYU and Long Beach are in good shape for an at-large (in the NCAA tournament) but we all have to play each other, which could muddy it up for someone.

“While this is what exists today, in a week it could be totally different. For us, we haven’t accomplished anything. We could lose the next six, finish 10-8, you’re not in consideration for an at-large at that point. Right now, we the focus is BYU and we’ll go from there.”