PROVO, Utah — Coming from two sets down, the 14th-ranked UC San Diego men's volleyball team clawed its way back and upset No. 11 BYU in five sets on the road Friday night.

It was the first-ever win for the Tritons against the Cougars going back to 1993.

Scores from Smith Fieldhouse were 25-27, 23-25, 25-18, 31-29, and 15-11 in favor of UC San Diego, which improved to 4-5 on the season. BYU dropped to 5-4. 

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HOW IT HAPPENED
The Triton offense was firing as the team finished with a .348 attack percentage backed by 67 kills and just 20 errors in 135 attempts. It was UC San Diego's best percentage of the season and the fourth time the Tritons hit at least .300 in a match this year.

Four Tritons finished with 10 or more kills including outside hitter Kyle McCauley (20), outside Ryan Ka (15), opposite Wyatt Harrison (13), and middle blocker Logan Clark (11). McCauley was a force in just about every aspect of the game as he added eight blocks, seven digs, and two service aces, finishing with 26 total points. Clark hit an impressive .647 with zero errors in 17 swings.

Setter Blake Crisp orchestrated the Triton offense and ended his night with 56 assists, a new career-high.

Libero Matt Palma, who leads the nation in digs per set, had a match-best 11 tonight.

UC San Diego led in points (82-66), kills (67-55), blocks (12-7), assists (64-53), and digs (42-41).

BYU posted a .231 attack with 55 kills and 24 errors in 134 attempts.

The Cougars were led by Davide Gardini with a match-high 23 kills. Miks Ramanis followed with 12 and Kupono Browne had 11. Mitchel Worthington totaled 11 digs and Branden Oberender totaled six blocks. 

Neither team produced much from the service line as UC San Diego had three aces and 30 errors and BYU had four aces and 25 errors.

The match featured 54 tie scores and just 11 lead changes. There were 21 tie scores in the fourth set alone.

The fifth set saw just three ties, the final one coming early at 3-3. A Harrison kill put the Tritons up 4-3 and they stayed in front the rest of the way. UC San Diego hit .667 in the fifth frame with eight kills and no errors in 12 swings.

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QUOTABLES
"It was a great victory tonight versus BYU. We lost each of the first two sets by two points, so although we lost those games we were on the right track.  The guys kept fighting and played a really solid third set as we hit 0.500 for the game. The fourth set was a barn burner.  The fifth set saw us hit 0.667 with a sideout percentage of 100 percent ... can't ask for any better play." - Head Coach Kevin Ring

We are extremely excited to pull off the reverse sweep tonight. To be the first UC San Diego team to beat BYU is an awesome thing to say. After losing the first two sets, we needed to pick up our serve receive in order to get our middles involved and that's exactly what we did. Logan and Shane established themselves on the court and we were able to balance out our offense because of them. Getting plenty of rest tonight and leading up to tomorrow's match is going to be huge. We need to carry the energy from tonight over and get going early in the match, both offensively and defensively. Our serving is going to be a major factor as well." - Outside hitter Kyle McCauley

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TRITON TIDBITS
• The last time UC San Diego came back from two sets down to win was at Grand Canyon on Jan. 10, 2015.
• Coming into the match, BYU held a 44-0 record against UC San Diego (dating back to 1993). 
• Kyle McCauley has finished with at least 13 kills in all eight of his matches played.
• Blake Crisp's former career-high for assists was 54, set against UC Santa Barbara in 2021.
• It was the fifth time the Tritons produced 40 or more digs this season.
• The last time the two squads met prior to tonight was on Feb. 8, 2018 when BYU took a 3-1 win in La Jolla.
• The Tritons' 82 points, 67 kills, and 64 assists were all season-highs.

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UP NEXT
UC San Diego and BYU go at it again Saturday night in Provo (6 p.m. PT). 

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About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 84 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.