• The Schedule
Wednesday, Feb. 9 at 7:00 PM
No. 8 UC Santa Barbara (5-3) vs. No. 7 USC (8-2)
at Galen Center in Los Angeles, Calif.
Live Stats | Watch on Pac-12 Network
Friday, Feb. 11 at 6:00 PM
No. 8 UC Santa Barbara (5-3) vs. No. 9 Grand Canyon (6-3)
at GCU Arena in Phoenix, Ariz.
Live Stats | Watch | Tickets
Saturday, Feb. 12 at 7:00 PM
No. 8 UC Santa Barbara (5-3) vs. No. 9 Grand Canyon (6-3)
at GCU Arena in Phoenix, Ariz.
Live Stats | Watch | Tickets
• Gauchos Take Down No. 2 Pepperdine Again
Despite missing two key starters, UCSB couldn't be slowed down in last Friday's rematch with No. 2 Pepperdine, defeating the Waves for the second time in 15 days. Sophomores Nick Amoruso and Conor Dunn started for the first time this year and did not disappoint. Amoruso led all players with 19 points, going for 12 kills, seven blocks and three aces. Dunn finished with 37 assists and four blocks. Junior outside hitter Ryan Wilcox led the Gauchos for the third straight match with 15 kills to go along with seven digs and six blocks.
• Taking Down The Top-9
Playing without a full lineup, Santa Barbara got out to a slow start to its season, opening the year against four unranked schools with a 1-3 record. Since then, the Gauchos are unbeaten, going a perfect 4-0 against teams ranked in the top-9. On back-to-back Fridays, they took down the No. 4 team in the nation, beating Pepperdine on the road in five and sweeping Penn State at home. In their next two matches, they took down then-No. 9 Ohio State and then-No. 2 Pepperdine in convincing fashion in four sets. Including postseason play, the Gauchos have won 13 of their last 14 matches against nationally ranked opponents dating back to March of 2021. With their current four-match win streak, UCSB has now taken its highest national ranking of 2022 at No. 8.
• Rematch With The Trojans
With a good chunk of their key contributors missing from the lineup, the Gauchos opened the year against No. 7 USC with 3-2 and 3-1 defeats. Both times, UCSB won the first set. Junior opposite Haotian Xia – who just missed his first match of the season last Friday – led the Gaucho offense in both matches, averaging 3.78 kills per set. USC (8-2) has lost just twice this season, most recently to the No. 1 team in the country in Long Beach State. The Trojans also fell to Ohio State in four sets exactly one week before the Gauchos defeated the Buckeyes, also in four.
• Todorov Hosting the Block Party
Donovan Todorov has been a problem for opposing teams to deal with. The sophomore middle blocker is currently averaging 1.61 blocks per set, just 0.01 shy of owning the top rank in the nation. He has also been very efficient on offense, going for an identical 1.61 kills per set and owning his team's second-best hitting percentage (.433). His efforts have helped UCSB to a No. 6 national ranking in team blocks per set (2.48). When he has been in the lineup this season, the Gauchos own a 5-1 record.
• Wilcox and Xia Leading the Offense
Ryan Wilcox and Haotian Xia have been UCSB's main targets on the offensive end, both showing their ability to score in a variety of ways and leading the team averaging 3.8 points per set each. The All-American Wilcox leads the way with 3.14 kills per set (37th in nation), while Xia comes in second at 3.00 (46th). Xia paces the team in service aces (0.33 SA/set), with Wilcox (0.29) coming in right behind him. In every match this season, one of the two offensive powerhouses has finished with a team-high in the kill department.
• Great Dayne
It's safe to say that the Gauchos have felt the return of Dayne Chalmers. UCSB is a perfect 4-0 since the sophomore was inserted into the lineup, giving the Gaucho attack another difficult and imposing dynamic for defenses to deal with. The Costa Mesa, Calif. native is tops among Gaucho outside hitters with a .328 attacking percentage, averaging 1.94 kills and 1.56 digs per set. He helped put Penn State away with aces on consecutive serves and reached double-figures for the first time in his career with 11 kills (.421) in the win over Ohio State.
• Setting the Table
Sophomore setter Patrick Paragas has been of the team's most consistent contributors this season, currently ranking 14th in nation with 3.36 assists per set. The Newport Beach, Calif. native has been active on the defensive end as well, sitting second on the team in digs (1.39) and fifth in total blocks (11). He has finished with over 30 assists in all seven of the matches he has appeared in and has tallied a season-high three blocks on three occasions.
• Wilcox and Todorov Named Big West Players of the Week
The Gauchos took home their first conference accolades of the season on Jan. 31, as Wilcox and Todorov were named the Big West Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week. Wlicox averaged 4.0 kills and 5.5 digs per set on an outstanding .469 hitting percentage to earn his fifth career weekly honor – he was named Big West Freshman of the Week four times in 2019.
Todorov earned the first of his career after recording a season-best .667 hitting percentage against Penn State and following it up with season-highs in both kills (9) and blocks (9) against the Buckeyes.
• Recapping an Incredible 2021 Season
A star-studded 2021 UCSB roster advanced all the way to the NCAA Tournament Semifinals as the Gauchos made their first run at a national title in 10 years. Four Gauchos were named First Team All-Conference for the first time, while a program record five became AVCA All-Americans and head coach Rick McLaughlin was named the USMC/AVCA DI-II Men's Coach of the Year for the second straight time. No. 3 Santa Barbara became the third team to win the Big West Championship, defeating No. 4 UC San Diego in four sets on Apr. 25. The Gauchos went on to earn their first tournament win since 2011 with another four-set win over No. 5 Pepperdine in the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals.
• New Year, New Opportunities
Following a year in which they held top-10 national rankings in kills, assists, digs and hitting percentage, the Gauchos are back on the court with a fresh lineup that will be without four of its five 2021 AVCA All-Americans.
Outside hitter Ryan Wilcox was the only non-senior to earn All-American status last year, and the only Gaucho this year to be named to the 2022 Off the Block Preseason All-American Team. The Big West Championship MVP returns for his junior campaign after leading the Big West with 35 aces and placing top-10 in kills (2.81), digs (2.14), points (3.5) and aces per set (0.47). He was a fixture in the UCSB opening-week attack against USC, leading the team in total attempts (76) and finishing second with 30 kills (3.33 K/S).
This year's 26-man roster features six freshmen and includes seven other returners who saw playing time last year. Sophomore middle blocker Donovan Todorov excelled in the final 15 matches of his freshman season as he finished near the top of the conference charts in blocks (1.17) and hitting percentage (.456). Also included among the returners are 2019 All-Freshman middle blocker Brandon Hicks, and sophomores who combined for 27 appearances last year in libero Ryan Pecsok and outside hitter Dayne Chalmers.
• AVCA Preseason Poll
After spending most of 2021 with a top-3 national ranking, this year's Gauchos began the year with a No. 11 preseason ranking as they look to reestablish themselves as a team to watch out for in the nation.
2022 NVA/AVCA Men's Division I-II Rankings
1 Long Beach State (12)
2 UCLA (5)
3 Hawai'i (2)
4 Penn State
5 Pepperdine
6 Lewis
7 Southern California
8 UC Santa Barbara
9 Grand Canyon
10 Ball State
11 BYU
12 Ohio State
13 Stanford
14 UC San Diego
15 Lincoln Memorial
( ) – First place votes
• McLaughlin Returns Following Second Straight AVCA National Coach of the Year
For the second straight year, head coach Rick McLaughlin took home both the Big West and AVCA National Coach of the Year awards. McLaughlin earned his fourth career conference coach of the year honor in a year where the Gauchos went 15-5 with thirteen of their wins coming against nationally ranked teams. They spent almost the entirety of the year ranked as the third-best team in the country and were top-four every week.
The Gaucho head coach led his team to its first ever Big West Championship, giving the program its first conference tournament title and trip to the NCAA Tournament in 10 years. The Gauchos went into their first NCAA Tournament since 2011 ranking top-10 in the country in several statistical categories, being fourth in kills per set (13.10), assists per set (12.33), and digs per set (10.37). They also ranked eighth or better in hitting percentage (.318), win-loss percentage (.789), and team attack per set (28.99).
• Going Digital
Install the new UCSB Gaucho Gameday app on your smartphone for exclusive UCSB coverage all season long. Now available on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
UCSB is moving to mobile ticketing beginning this season. For more information, click here.
