Box Score MALIBU, Calif. – In a meeting of the two undefeated teams in the Pepperdine Asics Tournament, UCSB was edged out by the Waves in 3-1 match at the Firestone Fieldhouse.
With the first weekend of the new season in the books, the Gauchos are now 2-1, while Pepperdine improves to 3-0.
Santa Barbara put up a very balanced attack on offense, as five Gauchos made at least seven kills in the match. Elizabeth Sheffield paced the team with 10 kills and a dynamic .588 hitting percentage, while Ali Barbeau and Phoebe Grunt were behind her with eight kills apiece. From the right side, Britton Taylor and Jaylen Villanueva each added seven kills.
In distributing the ball across every position, setters Annie Hasselmann and Hanna Nielson finished with 24 and 22 assists, respectively. Nielson also came up with 12 digs for her second double double of the weekend. Leading the team in the dig category was libero Emilia Petrachi who became the first Gaucho in three years to record 30 digs in a single match.
Also adding to the defense, Taylor impressed at the net with a team-high four blocks (one solo), while Grunt has behind her with three blocks of her own.
Together the middle blocking pair of Grunt and Sheffield topped the UCSB roster with 10 and 11 points, respectively.
With both teams vying to hand the other its first loss of the year, the Waves came out with a strong start with a 25-18 first set win. In the game, the Gauchos were held to a .194 kill percentage, but the team recollected itself in time for the second game and evened the score in commanding fashion.
In that set, the Gaucho offense exploded with a .487 hitting percentage – the best single set clip from either team – as the team coasted to a 25-16 victory. The opening points were closely contested, as UCSB held on to a slim 10-8 lead early on. However, they took a tight hold of the momentum and jumped ahead 18-10 on the heels of an 8-2 run. Sheffield provided the spark with a kill and put up a block with Taylor for the first two points.
During that stretch, Grunt found her swing and tallied three kills in five plays, which closed out the run. In scoring their final five points of the set, UCSB threw down four kills and blocked a Nikki Lyons attack to seal the win.
With the match tied at 1-1, the Waves were able to successfully protect their home floor and took the third and fourth games with scores of 25-19 and 25-16, respectively. In those games, the Gauchos were unable to maintain the offensive momentum they held before the break and finished the last two sets with a combined .081 hitting percentage.
UCSB will be back in action next weekend at the Yale Invitational. The team will open the tournament on Friday Sept. 4th versus Rice starting at 2 p.m. They will then face Yale and Rhode Island on Saturday to close out the weekend.
