PROVO, Utah – No. 24 San Diego battled back from an early deficit but could not complete the comeback as the Toreros dropped a 4-3 decision at No. 42 BYU on Saturday afternoon.
 
The loss snapped an eight-match winning-streak for USD (14-4, 4-1 WCC) and an eight-match conference winning-streak dating back to April 12, 2018.
 
"Today was a really tough result to swallow," said head coach Ryan Keckley. "BYU is top-five hardest places to play in the country hands down. We fought the conditions and environment more than anything and came up a short."
 
The Toreros fell behind early after dropping the doubles point. Guus Koevermans and David Norfeldt won their match at No. 3, 6-1, but USD dropped matches at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions.
 
Joel Gamerov leveled the match at 1-1 with a 6-4, 6-1, victory at No. 3 but BYU won the next two matches at No. 1 and No. 4 to take a commanding 3-1 lead.
 
The Toreros battled back as No. 67 Gui Osorio earned a 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-1, victory at No. 2 against Jeffrey Hsu. Osorio has won eight matches in a row.
 
Norfeldt won his match at No. 5 against Ben Gajardo, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5), to level the match a second time, 3-3. He improved to 8-4 in dual match play this season.
 
The Toreros could not complete the comeback as Koevermans fell to Matthew Pearce at No. 6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5) for the deciding point.
 
"We had opportunities to create separation but wasn't comfortable enough to believe in ourselves down the stretch," said Keckley. "We will get back to work this week in preparation for a good Santa Clara team."
 
USD will look to get back on track next week when it plays host to Santa Clara on Sunday at 1 p.m. PT.