PROVO, Utah (Feb. 11, 2023) — The No.14 UC Santa Barbara Men's Volleyball team (2-9) was back in action at the George Albert Smith Fieldhouse in Provo for their second bout against No. 10 BYU Saturday night. In another four-setter, the Gauchos fell to BYU, 3-1 (19-25, 20-25, 25-19, 17-25), for a second time.

HOW IT HAPPENED
While the Cougars came out strong in the first set, the Gauchos were hungry for redemption, keeping up with return attacks of their own to keep the score tied, 6-6 early. However, the Cougars retook the lead, and UCSB couldn't regain the momentum before the set ended, 25-19 to the hosts. The Gauchos were the first to score in the second set, but BYU continued their strong offensive performance, taking and keeping the lead to take the second set, 25-20.

Despite having their backs to the wall, UCSB found their footing in the third set, pulling out a three-point lead and maintaining it through most of the set. Swings from Ben Coordt, Sam Meister, Ryan Wilcox, and Nick Amoruso started falling in, and the Cougars struggled to cope. Add in BYU errors, and the Gauchos had themselves a 25-19 set victory.

But the footing the Gauchos had in the third belonged to the home team in the fourth. The Cougars led from the first point to the last and won the final set, 25-17.

LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS
● Ryan Wilcox extended his streak of double-digit kills to eight games, recording a dozen Saturday night. Of UCSB's 10 first-set kills, eight belonged to Wilcox
● Ben Coordt matched his season high with six kills, hitting .500 while doing so.
● Conor Dunn orchestrated the offense for the Gauchos, providing a season-high 22 assists on the night. The senior also recorded four digs and a pair of blocks

UP NEXT
The Gauchos will return to Rob Gymnasium as they take on Vanguard on Wednesday, March 1.