The No. 3-ranked UCLA men's volleyball team fell in straight sets at No. 5 BYU in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match played on Saturday night in Provo before over 5,000 fans. Scores of the contest were 23-25, 21-25, 20-25. UCLA is now 15-5 and 4-2 in MPSF play. BYU owns the lead in the MPSF standings with a 7-0 record. The Cougars outhit the Bruins .318 to .214 and out blocked UCLA 10.0 to 5.5.
 
In set one, UCLA opened up a series of two-point leads early at 4-2, 5-3 and 7-5. The margin was extended to 9-6 after a couple of BYU errors. The Cougars then rallied to even the score at 12-all. UCLA tied it at 13 on a kill by Oliver Martin and again at points 14 thru 16 on service errors, but could not get the lead back. BYU ran off three straight points for a 16-19 edge. UCLA came back to level the score at 21-all on a block by Martin, Micah Ma'a and Jake Arnitz. The Cougars tallied the next two to go up 21-23. An Anitz kill made it a one-point deficit, but BYU rang up two more kills for a 23-25 win. BYU outhit the Bruins .320 to .208 for the set. Daenan Gyimah led the Bruins with four kills.
 
BYU moved out to a 1-3 lead to begin set two. UCLA tied the score at 3 after a kill by Christian Hessenauer. With the score tied at 7-all, JT Hatch recorded a kill and followed it up with an ace for a 9-7 Bruin lead. BYU came back to even the score at 10-all and tallied two straight with the score tied at 15-all to push out to a 15-17 advantage. A Hessenauer kill sliced the deficit to 17-18, but the Cougars scored the next two to move in front 17-20. The Bruins registered the next two points on a pair of errors, but BYU answered with a couple of kills for a 19-22 edge. Kills by Gyimah and Arnitz cut it to 20-22 and then 21-23. The Cougars ended the set after a Bruin service error and a block for a 21-25 win. BYU had 4.5 blocks in the set and outhit the Bruins .258 to .161.
 
The score was even through the early points in set three. BYU then was able to grab leads of 6-8 and 8-10. UCLA came back to level the score at 10 on a service error and a kill by Hessenauer. However, BYU ran off the next three points. The Bruins battled back to knot the score at 13 after two more Hessenauer kills and a Cougar error. BYU tallied four of the next five points for a 14-18 advantage. A Missry kill cut the margin to 17-19, but the Cougars spurted for three straight points. Another Missry kill made it 20-23, but the Cougars closed out the set with two kills for a 20-25 win.
 
Missry and Hessenauer topped UCLA with eight kills. Gyimah finished with seven kills and three blocks. Ma'a had eight digs and three blocks. The Bruins will head home to host Pepperdine in a crucial MPSF match on Wednesday night in Pauley Pavilion.