SANTA BARBARA, Calif.— An incredible run for No. 3 UC Santa Barbara men's volleyball finally came to a close Thursday night as the Gauchos were defeated by No. 1 Hawai'i in the semifinal round of the NCAA Championship. The Rainbow Warriors took it in three sets of 25-21, 25-18, and 25-23.

This draws to conclusion the Gaucho careers of senior quartet Casey McGarry, Randy DeWeese, Keenan Sanders, and Roy McFarland, who opted in for a fifth year after the pandemic ended the 2020 season abruptly.

"These guys have been incredible, and they are the reason we are here. They are the heart and soul of Gaucho Volleyball," head coach Rick McLaughlin. "Over the course of two really strange seasons these guys have had to deal with so much extra stuff, and they were phenomenal. I've never had a group like that before, and they are the reason we made it here." 

Defensively UCSB had a solid performance holding a team that averages a .365 hitting percentage to .263, and the AVCA Player of the Year in Rado Parapunov, to an abysmal .143.

"The guys always follow the game plan so well and we had a good one today utilizing our serve-block defense," McLaughlin said. "If we could've served better it would've made the match closer, but we touched a lot of balls and dug a lot of balls, and I think if we had sided-out better we could've won." 

DeWeese led the way with 13 kills and added seven digs and a block as well. McGarry had 29 assists and seven digs and leading the way defensively was Ryan Wilcox who had a match-best 13 digs. Ryan Pecsok added six digs and was huge on serves only committing one reception error on a match-high 24 attempts.

The Gauchos held their own in the first set leading through the early points and trading punches with the Rainbow Warriors late in a game that featured six ties and three lead changes. The two teams met at 18-18 after a kill from DeWeese, but UH rattled off a 7-3 run to end the set 25-21.

The second set was all Bows from the jump with the tournament's top-seeded team out to a 6-1 lead and going up by as many as nine. With their backs against the wall the Gauchos managed to end the set on a 5-3 run to give them a positive note at the end of a tough set and momentum heading into the third.

The momentum paid off for UCSB as the team got out to an early lead in set three, a game that would see a match-high seven ties and five lead changes. Intense, gritty points by the Gauchos kept them alive late, including a huge rally at 23-21 where Pecsok and Wilcox nearly covered the entire stadium to keep the ball alive and win the point.

The Gauchos brought it to 24-23 in UH's favor but the Warriors closed it out on a kill from Parapunov to head to the NCAA Championship Finals this Saturday.