PROVO, Utah - The University of California San Diego men's volleyball team was swept by No. 3 Brigham Young University at Smith Fieldhouse on Saturday night. Set scores were 27-25, 25-21 and 25-22.
UC San Diego fell to 5-9 overall. Second-place preseason conference favorite BYU improved to 12-2 and 42-0 all-time against the Tritons. Saturday's contest was a non-conference affair after the Cougars had taken a straight-set decision on Friday night in the lone Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) meeting for the 2017 season. Friday in fact marked the final MPSF date between the sides, as UCSD moves to the newly-formed Big West Conference as an associate member in 2018.
A big combination block early in the first by Tim Dobbert and Miki Jauhiainen gave the home side a 6-3 lead. Freshman setter Wil Stanley, in a first collegiate start for the younger brother of U.S. Olympic gold medalist Clay Stanley, served an ace to extend it to a 4-0 run for an 8-3 advantage and the first timeout of the evening. Dobbert's ace made it 12-7. Shayne Beamer and Tanner Syftestad partnered for a pair of denials to get to within 12-9 and 13-11, respectively. Dobbert then sailed one to make it 13-12 as BYU called for time. Coming out of that break, it was Beamer and Syftestad once more to complete a 4-0 stretch and knot the score at 13-13.
UCSD later managed a pair of set points at 24-23 and 25-24, but was unable to get that necessary tally. On the latter, it appeared the Tritons won the point, only for a net to be called for a 25-25 deadlock. In an instant, a Jauhiainen ace and stuff block by Dobbert and Joseph Grosh gave the set victory the other away.
Just like on Friday night, the Tritons hung tough throughout the remainder. They led 10-9 in the second and caught up again at 20-20, but BYU notched the next four before Syftestad and Jake Langlois traded kills to make it 2-0 in favor of the Cougars. Langlois in fact had kills for the final four BYU points of the frame.
The hosts trotted out to a 9-6 lead in game three and then took command at 16-9. The Tritons got as close as two at 24-22, but Andrew Lincoln's kill ended the match.
Syftestad paced the Tritons for a 10th straight match with 13 kills, eclipsing the 200 mark already on the season, now at 203. Middle blocker Shayne Beamer finished with season highs of eight kills and two digs, with career bests of a .583 hitting percentage (8-1-12) and match-high seven total blocks. Fellow senior Ian Colbert added eight kills, while junior setter Milosh Stojcic collected 29 assists.
Connor Walbrecht, a true freshman out of La Cañada, made his college debut as a late substitution for Stojcic, contributing his first three assists ahead of a solo block on Lincoln that accounted for UCSD's final point of the night.
"The team really competed tonight," said UCSD head coach Kevin Ring. "We found ourselves down in set one and set two, but were able to fight our way back into it. One of our keys heading into this match was to slow down their left-side attack. In the first set, we did a really good job of that. Tanner Syftestad put a lot of pressure on them with his block. In the middle and end of that first set, we played some really good volleyball. We just have to find a way to be better crossing the finish line. You play good volleyball, and that just gets you in the fight and puts you close, but close isn't good enough. We're trying to make a few plays here and there and turn the tide.
"When you're playing a team like BYU, at home and as good as they are, you have to find what you are going to do that's better than them. From the service line tonight, we missed 18 serves, so we definitely needed to cut down on some errors. I felt like on the night, we competed really hard and never quit, so I definitely appreciate the battle in the guys. But we still have some work to do to try and find a level of play that we can stay consistent at and can push us across the finish line late in these sets to turn the tide in our favor."
Langlois (13) and Dobbert (10) were in double-figure kills for the Cougars. Stanley wound up with 27 assists, four digs and an ace.
Saturday's activity pushed the Tritons just past the midway point of their 27-match regular-season schedule.
UC San Diego returns to La Jolla on Sunday and hosts No. 12 UC Santa Barbara this Friday, Feb. 24, and No. 5 UCLA on Saturday, Feb. 25. First serves inside RIMAC Arena are set for 7 p.m.
#AllForOne
