ORANGE COUNTY BUSINESS : Ruffolo to Handle BYU Volleyball Team’s PR

Ruffolo Public Relations announced Friday that it will be handling publicity for Brigham Young University’s men’s volleyball team.

Not only that, but the company president, Jeff Ruffolo, plans to broadcast play by play of the games for a radio station in Salt Lake City. Ruffolo said he has never played volleyball but is an avid fan.

Ruffolo, head of the 9-year-old agency that employs three people in Laguna Niguel, estimated that the account will bill less than $30,000 annually.

He is a graduate of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and admitted that the team can use all the help it can get. Last season, the volleyball team’s second year as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn., it won two games and lost 26.

Team sponsors include Pepsi Cola Bottling Co. and Asics Tiger Corp. of Fountain Valley, which is the U.S. division of the Japanese athletic shoe and apparel maker.

The Southern California competitors of the Brigham Young Cougars include UC Irvine, Pepperdine University and UCLA.