SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (Jan. 5, 2023) – It was the opening day of the 2023 season for the No. 7 UC Santa Barbara Men's Volleyball team (1-0) as they played the first match of the Asics Invitational in Rob Gym. The Gauchos took on the No. 10 Trojans of Southern California first. After four sets of play, the Gauchos earned their first win of the season, taking down the Trojans in four sets (25-19, 25-16, 25-18, 25-23). 

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Trojans came out on fire against the Gauchos, coming out with the lead and keeping it throughout the first set. USC came out hitting at a .500 clip while UC Santa Barbara could only manage a .143 in that set, which helped the Trojans earn their first set win at 25-19.

From there, the Gauchos fought back. They dominated in the second set, hitting an impressive .520 as a team while Ryan Wilcox and Dayne Chalmers each registered seven kills apiece in this set, hitting .600 and .875 respectively. From there, UC Santa Barbara kept the pressure on USC, not giving them any room to improve in the third. The Gauchos hit even better in the third with a .529 hitting percentage while scoring 84 percent of their points.

Once the fourth set came around, the Trojans came back with a vengeance. They put the pressure on the Gauchos' offense while making their defense make big plays in order to stay in this game. The lead changed between the two teams five times while tying each other eight times as the fourth set win came down to the last point. Brandon Hicks and Conor Dunn got a block on match point to take the set and defeat the No. 10 Trojans 3-1. 

LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS

• Wilcox ended the evening with the most kills for the Gauchos, ending the first game of the year with 14 with a .417 hitting percentage. He also was tied for the most digs on the team, racking up nine.
• Chalmers also finished the match in double-digit kills. The redshirt junior tallied 11 kills in his first match of the season while only making two errors.
• Donovan Todorov was very efficient in the middle. The redshirt junior ended tonight with six kills and no errors on seven swings while registering a block.
• The Gauchos' libero, Max Gordon, also performed well in the back row. The sophomore was tied for the most digs on the team, earning nine, while passing 24 balls on serve receive.
• In his first game as a Gaucho, Jack Walmer ended the game with 37 assists while also adding on an ace.

UP NEXT
The Gauchos will be back in Rob Gym in 24 hours as they continue with the Asics Invitational. They will take on the Lincoln Memorial Railsplitters. The game is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. but is dependent upon the outcome of the previous game.