SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Despite a balanced attack and a thrilling victory in the first set, the UC Santa Barbara women's team dropped a four-set match to Long Beach State on Saturday night in the Thunderdome.

The 49ers, who dropped the Big West opener in September to the Gauchos, improved to 14-6 overall and 8-2 in the Big West with a firm grasp on first place. UCSB, meanwhile, sank to 12-10 overall and 5-4 in conference. Match scores were 22-25, 25-18, 25-19, 25-22.

Long Beach State middle blocker Haleigh Hampton led three Long Beach State players in double digit kills with 19 putaways while All-American outside hitter Caitlin Ledoux had 15 kills.

No Gaucho had more than nine kills, but five players had at least seven kills apiece - Leah Sully, Taylor Pischke, Lily Lopez, Jenna Wilson and Kara Sherrard.

Chelsey Lowe led UCSB with 23 digs while Sully and Sherrard each had 13. Hanna Nielson had 45 assists for the Gauchos.

Santa Barbara played well at the net with four solo blocks and 18 block assists (11.0 total) however, LBSU totaled 11 solo blocks led by Alma Serna's six.

UCSB, trying to take advantage of a Long Beach team that played five sets the previous evening at Cal Poly, took the first set despite trailing 13-9 early.

Then, the Gauchos jumped out to an 18-15 lead based on three kills from Pischke, two from Stacey Schmidt and a service ace from Schmidt. The Gauchos then saw the 49ers tie things at 20-20 but three attack errors by LBSU gave UCSB the first set.

UCSB plays at UC Davis next Friday at 7 p.m. and returns home on Nov. 4. Tickets are available by clicking here or calling (805) 893-UCSB.