PROVO, Utah -- In the first round of the 2011 MPSF tournament, the No. 2 seed BYU Cougars fell at home by seventh-seeded UC Santa Barbara in four sets (21-25, 25-23, 24-26, 22-25) Saturday in the Smith Fieldhouse.

Junior Robb Stowell led BYU with 19 kills in the match. MPSF Freshman of the Year Taylor Sander contributed with 15 kills and five digs while the Cougars recorded 14 blocks as a team compared to UCSB's nine.

“We struggled to find a rhythm tonight,” interim head coach Rob Nielson said. “Give credit to UCSB though. They played like they had nothing to lose and put together a really nice match.”

Set one really established the competitive tone as both teams battled back and forth throughout. The Cougars took an early 7-3 lead behind an ace from Sander and maintained a lead until UCSB tied the score at 14.

UCSB expanded their lead to five and led 20-15 before BYU stormed back to tie the score at 20. The Cougars didn't have the momentum, however, to continue the rally and would lose the set 25-21.

BYU bounced back in set two behind a set-leading five kills from Stowell. The Cougars built up a 16-9 lead early before the Gauchos came back to tie it at 21. BYU outhit UCSB .250 to .121 in the set and finished strong to take the 25-23 win.

Any momentum built by the Cougars in set two faded quickly as UCSB jumped out to a 12-7 lead in set three. BYU came back and took their first lead in the set at 17-16 before falling 26-24. The Gauchos finished the set with a .300 hitting percentage to the Cougars .194. Stowell and Sander were the only Cougars to record kills in the set, finishing with seven and six, respectively.

In a tight fourth set the two teams battled back and forth until UCSB took control of the lead for good at 15-14. Alex DePron led the Cougars in kills with five while Sander and Stowell both contributed four in the 25-22 set loss.

The BYU men's volleyball team will make its 17th appearance in the postseason MPSF tournament this Saturday, April 23, in the Smith Fieldhouse as it hosts its quarterfinal match against UC Santa Barbara at 7 p.m. MT.

The Cougars earned the second seed in this year's tournament and will match up with 7-seed UCSB. Tickets for the event are still available by visiting byutickets.com. Prices are $5 for students and $10 for general admission adults.

Junior Robb Stowell leads the attack for BYU on 393 kills and a .328 attacking percentage. Teammates Taylor Sander, Futi Tavana, Alex DaPron and Otavio Souza join Stowell in double-digit kills with 326, 226, 162 and 116 respectively. Tavana currently leads the team with a .446 hitting percentage and is the only players with over 100 kills on a 151 total. Souza follows closely with 91 total.

Setter Joe Kauliakamoa has recorded 918 assists this season as he paces the Cougar offense, averaging 10.31 per set.

Setter Ryan Boyce has recently been splitting time with Kauliakamoa for 175 total assists and a 3.80 average.

The Cougars finished the regular season with two wins over No. 13 Pepperdine on the road to capture a 20-7 overall record and the second seed in this year’s MPSF tournament. BYU has accumulated three MPSF championships in 1999, 2003 and

2004 with regular season titles coming in those three seasons and 2001 also. They’ve also racked up an overall 19-13 record in MPSF action but are 0-1 against UCSB in tournament play.

The Gauchos come to Provo for the first time this season after hosting the Cougars in February of the 2011 campaign. Senior Jeff Menzel currently leads the UCSB team with 403 kills on the season. Teammates Cullen Irons, Scott Slaughter, Dylan Davis and Trey Valbuena join Menzel in double-digit kills with 330, 200, 155 and 148 respectively. The Gauchos lost their last two road outings to finish their 2011 season at Pepperdine and first-seed USC.

The Cougars lead the overall series against UCSB 27-19 after going 2-1 against them this season.

Live stats are available through the BYU men’s volleyball schedule page. Gametracker is launched by clicking on the “Live Stats” link for the appropriate game on the schedule.

BYUtv will broadcast both matches live with play-by-play from Jarom Jordan and color commentary from Steve Vail. The match is also available online at byutv.org/live.