SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (Feb. 3, 2023) – The No. 15 UC Santa Barbara Men's Volleyball team (1-7) returned to Rob Gym for the first time since the opening weekend of play as the Gauchos took on the No. 5 Pepperdine University Waves. This match between two Top 15 teams gave fans in attendance free volleyball. By the end of the match, it was the Gauchos who came out victorious, winning in five (25-21, 25-21, 25-16, 25-10, 15-12). 

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos came out on fire on their home court, grabbing a 4-1 lead right from the start of the game. But this top-ranked team couldn't be held back for long. The Waves came crashing in, closing the gap between them and the Gauchos while taking a lead in the process. Despite their best efforts, UC Santa Barbara couldn't recover as Pepperdine took the first set 25-21.  

Once they came back on the court for the second set, the Gauchos could not be stopped. Even with the Waves best forces on the court, Dayne Chalmers and Ryan Wilcox dominated on the outside while middles Donovan Todorov and Sam Meister kept control from the middle. With a full-team effort and Sportscenter Top 10 level plays, the Gauchos took the second set of this match 25-21.

The Waves were out for revenge in the third set and the Gauchos were not prepared. UC Santa Barbara could not figure out how to stop the offensive efforts from the visiting team, resulting in a 25-16 score in favor of the bad guys.

This is when the Gauchos decided to make their second run of the evening. They took complete control over this fourth set, not giving the competitors any room to breathe. With Birg registering five kills in this set alone, UC Santa Barbara took a commanding 25-11 fourth set over the Waves to take it into five.

These two teams duked it out from the moment the fifth set began, with neither team getting more than a two-point lead at any given time. That was until Head Coach Rick McLaughlin challenged a crucial point that gave his team the ball and the momentum to finish the game. UC Santa Barbara ran away with this final set, not giving Pepperdine the chance to come back. The Gauchos took the fifth and final set 15-12 to win the match 3-2. 

LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS

• Chalmers had the best offensive performance of his career as he notched 17 kills with no errors on 25 attempts. These numbers gave him a .680 hitting percentage, the highest in his career as an outside hitter. Along with that, he contributed to the defensive efforts with two blocks and four digs.
• Wilcox continues to build off his milestone performance last game by getting a double-double in Rob Gym tonight. The senior ended the night with 13 kills while also adding on 12 digs for his second double-double of the season.
• Birg continues to build on his career-high performance last game by notching 13 kills while helping the team in the front row with three blocks.
• The middle blockers Meister and Todorov were huge helps for the Gauchos as well. Meister led the team in blocks with five including one solo while adding on two aces. Todorov, on the other hand, hit at a .600 clip while adding on four blocks.
• Jack Walmer continues to command the offense for the Gauchos, totaling 46 assists in this game. He also led the team in aces, snatching three. 

UP NEXT
The Gauchos will be on the road as they make the trek to Utah to take on BYU. They will play two games against the Cougars on both Friday and Saturday, Feb. 10 and 11, beginning at 7 p.m. MST. The games for this road trip will be streamed through BYUtv with live stats also available to view.