PALO ALTO, Calif. (Jan. 14, 2023) – The UC Santa Barbara Men's Volleyball team (1-4) were back in action with a very quick turnaround as they hit the court in Palo Alto, California again as they took on the Stanford University Cardinal. Tonight's game went into extra points as the Gauchos and Cardinal battled throughout five sets. However, after five, it was Stanford who got the best of the Gauchos as UC Santa Barbara dropped this match 3-2 (25-20, 25-22, 26-24, 26-24, 15-12).

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos came out with a vengeance after last night's sweep as they came into today with a new passion. The visitors were neck and neck with the Cardinal throughout most of the set until the end of the set thanks to a service run by none other than Ryan Wilcox. The much-needed push he provided, the Gauchos were able to take the first set 25-20.

Stanford was not going to let that go. These two teams battled similarly to the first set, waiting until the last points of the second set to determine the winner. At that time, the Cardinal were able to pull ahead just in time to take the win, securing the 25-22 set two win.

The next two sets played out very similarly as neither team wanted to back down. Both the third and fourth sets ended up going into extra points, with the Gauchos taking the third 26-24 and the Cardinal taking the fourth set with the same score.

This battle between two Top 10 teams continued into the fifth set. They switched sides at 8-7 after the Cardinal got a point, and that's when Stanford got their momentum. They ran away with the rest of the set despite the Gauchos' best efforts, resulting in a score of 15-12 in favor of Stanford which gave them the match 3-2.

LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS

• Geste Bianchi had the biggest impact for the Gauchos. He had as many kills as the next two players, registering a career-high 26 kills while hitting at an impressive .373 clip. Not only that, but he added on six blocks.
• Wilcox continues to be a driving force for UC Santa Barbara. He registered his first double-double of the season, notching 11 kills to go along with 13 digs. Not only that, but ended up with two blocks while adding on two aces.
• Dayne Chalmers also had his best night of this young season thus far. He ended the night with 15 kills while only making four errors, resulting in .324 hitting percentage.
• Both middle blockers Dain Johnson and Donovan Todorov were extremely efficient on both offense and defense. Johnson finished the game hitting .617 with seven kills and no errors on seven attempts while contributing a team-high eight blocks. Todorov, on the other hand, hit. 417 with six kills and one error.
• Jack Walmer commands the offensive efforts across the board, He ended the night with 51 assists, a new career high. 

UP NEXT
The Gauchos will be back in action beginning Thursday, Jan. 19, as they head south to Los Angeles. They will start the trip taking on USC before playing UCLA on Jan. 20.