IRVINE, Calif. – The No. 6 UC Santa Barbara men's volleyball team got back to its winning ways on Wednesday night at No. 14 UC Irvine, hitting over .400 as a team for the second time against a ranked opponent this year to beat the Anteaters in four, 25-19, 25-18, 26-26, 25-22.

ON THE STAT SHEET

• For the third time this season, three different Gauchos reached double-figure kills, led by opposite Haotian Xia's 16 (.364). It was the second-highest total of the year for the junior.
• Also tying his second-best kill total of 2022 was sophomore middle blocker Donovan Todorov with 10 (.500) to go along with a match-high six blocks. Junior hitter Ryan Wilcox finished with 14 kills and had six digs, tying Patrick Paragas and Max Gordon for team-high honors.
• The Gauchos' (15-6, 4-2) efficient team hitting percentage of .409 was thanks in large part to a career-night from sophomore setter Patrick Paragas, who averaged the most assists per set (12.0) of his career for a match-best 48 helpers.
• Junior middle blocker Brandon Hicks had a huge all-around night, going 7-for-9 (.778) on kill attempts for one of his most efficient hitting nights ever. He also tied a season-high with three aces and added four digs and three blocks.

HOW IT HAPPENED

1st Set (25-19 UCSB)

• The Gauchos never trailed in set one, using a 4-0 run bookended by kills from Xia and Wilcox to go up 10-5.
• UCSB continued gaining separation before Hicks put away his first ace of the night to make it 21-13, giving the Gauchos their largest lead of the night.
• A late 3-0 UCI spurt came to an end on an Anteater service error to end the set.

2nd Set (25-18 UCSB)

• UCI (8-12, 1-4) would take a two-point lead early in set two before the Gauchos turned the tables. They went up 12-9 after back-to-back kills from Wilcox and Todorov capped a 6-2 run.
• The Gauchos had their highest hitting percentage (.522) of the night while holding the Anteaters to their lowest (.143).
• Santa Barbara also enjoyed a 3-0 block advantage, the last of which came from Hicks and Dayne Chalmers on the final point to give UCSB its largest lead of the set, 25-18.

3rd Set (28-26 UCI)

• Xia and Wilcox combined for nine kills as they did in the opening set. However, UCI's Francesco Sani had eight of his own as the home side overcame a 20-16 Gaucho lead.
• The Anteaters claimed their only game of the night on a block to win it 28-26.

4th Set (25-22 UCSB)

• UCSB put things away with a strong defensive set four, holding UCI to a .188 hitting percentage while the offense posted a .353 clip. For the second time in the match, the Gauchos never trailed.
• Xia was on fire throughout, tallying six kills on a .500 mark.
• Wilcox had four of his five blocks as UCSB recorded more than half of its 11 blocks for the night with six in the final set alone.
• Todorov also went for three blocks and three kills. He, Wilcox and Xia combined for the final stuff to clinch the win, 25-22.

NEXT UP
The Gauchos and Anteaters will play for a second time this Friday at 7:00 p.m. at UCSB's Rob Gym.