MALIBU, Calif. – The start of the 2015 season could not have gone much better, as UCSB swept its way through two matches to open at 2-0. The Gauchos tipped off the Pepperdine Asics Tournament with a 3-0 match against Utah Valley and followed that up by blanking Incarnate Word later in the afternoon.

Senior Ali Barbeau shined in both matches, as she finished the day with 28 kills, including 17 against UVU. Looking impressive in her first matches in a UCSB uniform, middle blocker Elizabeth Sheffield tacked on 18 kills with a .457 hitting percentage along with a team-high eight total blocks.

Handling setting duties were Hanna Nielson and Annie Hasselmann who completed the day with 32 and 31 assists, respectively. On the defensive side, freshman Emilia Petrachi made the start at libero and led the Gauchos with 19 digs, while Jaylen Villanueva was right behind her with 18 scoops.

Overall, the Gauchos swung at a .226 clip as a team and picked up 86 total digs in limiting their opponents to just .088 hitting percentage.

The Gauchos will conclude tournament play tomorrow against Pepperdine at 12 p.m. at the Firestone Fieldhouse. A video stream will carry the match, which will also feature live stats.

UTAH VALLEY

The Gauchos came away with the sweep with outstanding performances from Ali Barbeau and Elizabeth Sheffield.

Barbeau already looks in midseason form, as she led the match with 17 kills off a .282 hitting percentage and also picked up five digs. Sheffield – who made her Division I debut – looked comfortable in a starting role after tallying nine kills with and efficient .500 kill percentage. The junior was also busy at the net in recording four total blocks, including a match-high three solo.

UCSB's new setting duo had a great opener as well with Hanna Nielson making 17 assists with freshman Annie Hasselmann adding 14 of her own. Together, the two led the Gaucho offense to .208 hitting clip, highlighted by a .333 attacking effort in the second game. As well as she help set up her teammates for kills, Hasselmann also got involved in the attack herself with four kills.

Nielson's impact also went beyond the assist column, as she also led the match with 13 digs, completing a double double. Behind her was freshman Emilia Petrachi who performed well in her collegiate debut with 10 scoops and three assists. 

In the win, UCSB showed it could pull out victories in multiple ways. In the first set, the offense was struggling with a .184 hitting percentage, but the defense more than made up for it by holding the Wolverines to a -.065 kill percentage and just five kills. The Gauchos managed to find their swing in the second set and cruised with a .333 hitting percentage led Barbeau who found eight of her kills in the game without a single attacking error. Then in the third set, UCSB had to grind out an extra-points victory, as Shauna Klein came in and delivered some clutch serving to seal the win.

As UVU looked to avoid the sweep, the team grabbed hold of game point at 24-22 in the third set following a 5-0 run. After a block gave the Wolverines their 24^th point, Barbeau kept the Gauchos alive with a kill, which prompted a Utah Valley timeout. Welch used that to her advantage and brought in Shauna Klein to the service line. The moved paid off immediately, as the senior dealt a serve on her first attempt and finished the game at the line, as the Gauchos finished off the 4-0 run with back-to-back kills from Barbeau and Sheffield.

While the third set featured a tight finish, the Gaucho offense controlled most of the second game, as it scored 22 of its 25 points off 19 kills and three aces. Barbeau looked in midseason form with her set-leading eight kills, as she led UCSB to leads as large as seven points. Though the Wolverines frantically put together a late 6-3 run to come within two points at 23-21, they committed a pair of attacking errors and Jaylen Villanueva registered one of her seven kills to put the game away.

Both teams spent the first set shaking off some off-season rust, as neither was able to find their offensive rhythm. In fact, the Gauchos took the initial 2-0 lead because of a pair of bad sets by the Wolverines.

UCSB broke away early in the set with a 10-4 run to erase a 6-5 UVU advantage. Britton Taylor opened the run with her first kill of the season, while Barbeau tallied three of those points with kills. With the newly found 15-10 lead, the Gauchos had one more offensive burst in them to keep UVU behind them for good. Hasselmann came up with the first kill of a 6-2 UCSB run that featured three Wolverine attacking errors. Sheffield particularly shined during that stint with a solo block and a kill.

INCARNATE WORD

The Gauchos closed out day one of the tournament with another sweep behind Barbeau's 11 kills and Hasselmann's 17 assists against Incarnate Word.

While the UCSB offense ended the match hitting .248, the defense really stood out in holding UIW to a gaunt .074 kill percentage.

Behind Barbeau in the kill column were Elizabeth Sheffield with nine kills and .421 hitting percentage and Britton Taylor who logged in eight kills off a terrific .429 clip from the right side.

On defense, Nielson and Petrachi kept busy in scooping up nine digs each, while Sheffield looked strong again at the net with four blocks.

While the Gauchos outlasted the Cardinals in the first sets 25-20 and 25-22, respectively, UCSB saved its best game for last completed the sweep with a 25-14 trouncing in the third.

In that set, UCSB forced the Cardinals into 11 attacking errors, while the Gauchos produced 11 kills and only two errors for a combined .375 hitting percentage.

UIW took the opening 2-0 lead, but Santa Barbara wasted no time in blowing the doors open with an 18-2 run to take an imposing 18-4 advantage. Barbeau ignited the run with a kill from one of Nielson's 15 assists of the match. From there, the Cardinals struggled and committed 10 attacking errors, while Sheffield led the Gaucho charge with three kills. 

While the Cardinals were able to put themselves within nine points of UCSB, it was all too late as the Gauchos scored four of its last five points with two kills and two aces, including one from Hasselmann to end the match.

The match's closest game came in the second when the two teams found themselves tied at 19-19. The point that tied the set was an attacking error by UIW's Madison Williams, which triggered a chain of three consecutive Cardinal errors, which gave UCSB a 21-19 lead. It would be an advantage UCSB never let go, as Taylor came through with a kill and a block assist with Sheffield that helped put her team ahead 24-20. To bring the gritty game to an end, Barbeau and Sheffield roofed an attack from Hope Kelley for the 25-22 final.

Though it was more or less an equal bout in the beginning of the first set, the Gauchos tilted the game in their favor with 6-1 run in nabbing a 20-15 edge. With the aid of three UIW errors, UCSB's offense capitalized with kills from Taylor and Barbeau to reach the 20-point plateau.

The Gauchos first reached game point at 24-18, but the Cardinals refused to go down easy and pushed themselves closer at 24-20. But Phoebe Grunt squandered any chance of a comeback with a game-ending kill, her third of the set.