LA JOLLA, Calif. - The UC San Diego men's volleyball team challenged BYU but fell to the top-ranked Cougars 27-30, 21-30, 26-30 on Saturday night in RIMAC Arena.  The loss drops the Tritons to 1-12, 0-9 MPSF while the Cougars improve to 12-2, 10-2 MPSF.  UCSD was tied late with BYU in game one and was within two points late in game three before losing the match.  Brenden Bowe led the Tritons with seven kills while Mike Reuter added five kills.  Neither team could find a groove from the service line as the teams combined for 43 service errors.  BYU was led by Russell Holmes with nine kills.

In game one, the teams stayed close throughout as the Tritons took the lead 21-20 on a Bowe kill.  UCSD led for the last time at 26-25 on another Bowe kill.  BYU captured the lead at 27-26 and would close the match on an ace by Yosleyder Cala and a kill from Victor Batista at 30-27.

Game two saw UCSD pull within 9-7 but the Cougars quickly extended the lead to 20-15.  The Tritons could not put together another run as BYU pulled out game two 30-21 on a UCSD attack error.

The Tritons had several chances in game three as they committed 17 errors but were still within striking distance at 23-21.  After BYU pulled ahead by five points, the Tritons cut it down to three at 29-26 on a Reuter kill.  BYU's Sorensen put the match away with the final kill at 30-26.

UCSD is back in action on Feb. 24 when it hosts UCLA at 7:00 p.m. in RIMAC Arena.