PROVO, Utah — No. 10 UC San Diego men's volleyball's first road match of the season saw the Tritons fall in three sets at No. 8 BYU. The 25-21, 25-19, 25-19 match was also the first loss this year for the Tritons, who are now 3-1.
 
The Tritons had one more kill than the Cougars but were undone by 17 service errors. BYU had a 7-2 advantage in blocking and hit .460 while holding the Tritons to .290.
 
Sebastiano Sani had a team-high 11 kills while hitting .261. Leo Pravednikov had eight with a .385 attack percentage, while Jim Garrison contributed eight on a .500 clip.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Both offenses came out firing in set one as BYU hit .700 and UC San Diego hit .474. The Cougars never led by more than three, but stayed in front since the Tritons had a 6-5 early on. The closest the Tritons got was down one at 20-19 after an ace by Sani. BYU then won five of the final seven points to win set one 25-21.
 
Set two was a game of runs as BYU started out with a 9-5 lead before the Tritons tied it at 9-all. Pravednikov started the run with a kill, while Josh Ewert contributed back-to-back aces. The hosts then responded with four-straight points of their own and kept that advantage for most of the set. BYU also scored the final three points to stretch the gap to six, winning the set 25-19.
 
The third set saw the Tritons held to a match-low .130 hitting percentage as BYU led by as much as eight, 19-11. The Tritons then ignited a late rally, going on a 6-1 run to cut the lead to 20-17. But three service errors and two BYU blocks snuffed out the comeback effort as the Cougars won set three 25-19 to sweep the match.
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• The Tritons tied their season-high with six service aces. They are 18th nationally with 1.45 aces per set.
• BYU led for the entirety of set two, marking the first time this season the Tritons did not have a lead at any point during a set. 

UP NEXT
The Tritons and Cougars will run it back on Saturday night at the Smith Fieldhouse in Provo, Utah. First serve is set for 6:00 p.m. PST, with a live broadcast available on both Big Ten Plus (paid) and BYUtv (free).
 
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 has begun a new era as a member of The Big West in NCAA Division I. The 24-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 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 39 have garnered 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 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in NCAA Division I or II. For more information on the Tritons, visit UCSDtritons.com or follow UC San Diego Athletics on social media @UCSDtritons.