PROVO, Utah - UC San Diego let a four-point lead late in the third set slip away, and No. 7 Brigham Young University wound up completing the sweep, 3-0, in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's volleyball action Saturday night in front of 2,463 at the Smith Fieldhouse. Set scores were 25-18, 25-20 and 25-21.
UCSD fell to 1-8 overall and 0-6 in the MPSF. A 32nd consecutive home victory put BYU at 6-2 overall on the year and 5-1 in league play. The Cougars had also swept the Tritons in the season's first meeting between the teams on Friday in Utah.
UCSD led for much of the third set after a third tie score early of 3-3. The advantage grew to as many as four points at 16-12 on a Kirill Rudenko before BYU called its first timeout of the night. Two successive Cougar points finally forced the Tritons' first timeout of the frame later with UCSD still clinging to a 19-17 lead. Coming out of the break, the hosts tallied three more in a row through a Carson Heninger kill, Triton attack error, and a triple block by Heninger, Phil Fuchs and Prince Jarman, regaining a slim 20-19 edge as UCSD used its final stoppage. BYU scored five of the next seven points, including the last three on a trio of kills, to close out the match.
“In game three, we got off to a nice start,” said UCSD head coach Kevin Ring. “We played pretty steady, made a nice run, and held a 19-17 lead. To BYU's credit, they pushed back and made a late-game run of their own. Those are the moments and situations we want to put ourselves in more and more often. Learning how to make the right plays, make good decisions, and how we want to perform a skill in those moments. As much as anything, it's just our conviction, to say, 'we're going to dictate play, where the ball goes, how it gets there.' We're a young team, learning how to compete, especially on the road in a tough place to play, a very fun environment with a great crowd both nights.”
Luke La Mont, UCSD's freshman outside hitter, had the match high in kills for the second straight night, putting down nine to go along with a team- and career-high five digs. Junior tri-captain Mathew Schnitzer finished with six kills on .417 hitting (6-1-12), and a team-high four total blocks. Middle-blocking mate Shayne Beamer added five kills and three stuffs. Freshman Mac Egan played in all three sets and tallied his first collegiate kill, first three digs, and first three blocks. Milosh Stojcic (13 assists) and José Carlos Martinez (11) both saw time at the setter spot.
BYU jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first set on the strength of a pair of triple blocks, with Michael Hatch, Jake Langlois and San Diego native Matt Underwood (Rancho Bernardo HS) teaming up on both. The Tritons could not get closer than to within two points the rest of the way, at 15-13 and 16-14.
In the second, a 4-0 swing pushed the Cougars ahead by five at 11-6, with Jarman in on all four points via two kills, a solo stuff, and another Cougar triple block alongside Fuchs and Underwood. The run triggered UCSD's first timeout. The bulge grew as big as nine, at 24-15 for set point, before the Tritons closed the gap with five straight, including a triple block by Egan, Rudenko and Schnitzer.
UCSD totaled 8.0 team blocks, its second-highest haul of the season. That effort aided in holding the Cougars to a .247 attack rate a night after they went for a season-high .506.
“In tonight's match, the guys really competed hard,” added Ring. “We let BYU have some early- to mid-game runs in the first two, and then we were just playing catch-up. We worked hard and got ourselves back into those games, but were just a little too far behind in the end.
“Maybe the best thing we did here all weekend, was we served really well. This is a tough place to serve. You're serving at altitude. We were able to keep our service errors to a minimum, while still serving tough. We're going to need that the remainder of the season.”
UCSD flies home to California on Sunday, and awaits the start of a four-match homestand on Friday, Feb. 6, with non-conference foe Concordia coming to RIMAC Arena for a 7 p.m. start.
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