LA JOLLA, Calif. - The 14th-ranked UC San Diego men's volleyball team was swept by No. 5 BYU 30-27, 30-23, 30-25 on Saturday night in RIMAC Arena. The Tritons were close in the first set, a set which was tied 18 times. The Cougars controlled the match after the first set, outhitting UCSD .352 - .155. Jason Spangler led the Tritons with 10 kills while Cyrus Kiani added eight kills. BYU was led by Andrew Stewart with 14 kills and Kevin Sagers with 11 kills. The loss drops UCSD to 4-11, 1-9 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, while the Cougars improve to 9-4, 7-3 MPSF.

While the Tritons are 1-9 in conference play, UCSD is four games out of the final MPSF playoff spot with 12 conference games remaining.

Adrian Guthals added six kills for UCSD while Phil Bannan had 33 assists. Andrew Kaban led UCSD with nine digs and Spangler chipped in a match-high four service aces.

BYU outblocked UCSD 14.0 - 4.0 and had 47 kills, to just 35 for the Tritons.

In the first set, UCSD grabbed a 23-21 lead and led 25-24 after a Kiani kill. BYU tied the match at 26-26 before pulling ahead 28-26 on back-to-back Segars kills. A Guthals kill pulled UCSD with 28-27, but BYU closed out the set on a kill and block at 30-27.

BYU controlled the second set hitting at a .700 clip. The Cougars took a 13-7 lead and never looked back. BYU won the set 30-23.

In the third set, the Cougars built a 10 point lead at 19-9. The Tritons did make one push, going on a 12-6 run to cut the deficit down to four points at 25-21. BYU was too much however and took the set 30-25. BYU held the Tritons to just .061 in the set.

The Tritons now hit the road for over a month which includes three roadtrips and a break for finals week. Next week UCSD makes the trip to Southern California to face UCLA and UC Irvine.

The next UCSD homestand is on March 26-27 against Stanford and Pacific.