A former conference foe will return to the Smith Fieldhouse for the first time in four years.
BYU as part of unveiling its 2026 schedule announced it will play an early season two-match home non-conference series against UC San Diego.
This will be the first time the two teams have played each other since the Tritons swept a two-match road series against the Cougars in 2022. Those victories also were UC San Diego’s first wins in the series history and ended a 43-match losing streak to BYU.
BYU finished last season in third place in the MPSF and was ranked in the top 10 of both the national coaches poll and national media poll.
The Cougars will have to replace two All-MPSF starters from last season but in the offseason added transfer outside attacker Trent Moser. Moser with Grand Canyon ended the 2025 season in the top 15 of the MPSF with both a 2.88 kills per game average and a .318 attack percentage.
UC San Diego last season had two victories against top 10 nationally ranked teams and advanced to the Big West Tournament semifinals. Among the starters returning of the Tritons includes libero Keegan Cook who led the Big West with a 2.08 digs per game average in 2025.
This series with UC San Diego will be BYU’s first two of six consecutive matches against the Big West.opponents.
BYU also will have a two-match home series against UC Irvine and a two-match road series at UC Santa Barbara.
2026 BYU schedule
Jan. 9 vs. Saint Francis
Jan. 10 vs. Saint Francis
Jan. 16 vs. UC San Diego
Jan. 17 vs. UC San Diego
Jan. 23 vs. UC Irvine
Jan. 24 vs. UC Irvine
Jan. 29 at UC Santa Barbara
Jan. 30 at UC Santa Barbara
Feb. 6 at Harvard
Feb. 7 at Harvard
Feb. 9 at Merrimack
Feb. 13 vs. Menlo
Feb. 14 vs. Menlo
Feb. 20 vs. Fort Valley State
Feb. 21 vs. Fort Valley State
March 6 at Merced
March 7 at Jessup
March 13 at Stanford
March 14 at Stanford
March 20 vs. Concordia
March 21 vs. Concordia
March 27 vs. Pepperdine
March 28 vs. Pepperdine
April 2 at Vanguard
April 3 at Vanguard
April 10 vs. USC
April 11 vs. USC
April 16 at UCLA
April 18 at UCLA