IRVINE, Calif. (April 20, 2023) – The fourth-seeded UC Santa Barbara Men's Volleyball team (8-16, 3-7 Big West) competed in the quarterfinal round of The Big West Championships against the fifth-seeded UC San Diego Tritons with the winners looking to earn a spot in the semifinals. It took five sets to decide who would move on to the next round, but it was UC Santa Barbara who came out victorious (25-18, 25-23, 25-21, 25-20, 15-12).

HOW IT HAPPENED
From the start of the first set, the Gauchos had control. UC Santa Barbara went 4-1 before UC San Diego fought back. The bad guys tied the score up at 11's, with the two teams exchanging points five times. That was until the Gauchos pushed ahead thanks to a six-point service run from Nick Amoruso. With that, UC Santa Barbara closed out the first set 25-18.

UC San Diego was not going to let the Gauchos get too comfortable. These two teams went point-for-point, tying up the set 14 times along the way. It took the remainder of the second to decide the victor, but it was the Tritons who prevailed. The Gauchos dropped the second set 25-23 as the match was tied up at 1-1.

The third set went similarly to the first, except this time, the Gauchos were even more dominant. UC Santa Barbara only let the Tritons get close once before they ran away with the set, finishing this out at 25-21 to go up 2-1 in the match.

Just like the second set, the Tritons wanted vengeance.  They came out swinging, going point-for-point with the Gauchos. However, multiple Tritons went on service runs in the back half of the fourth to go up on UC Santa Barbara. This resulted in UC San Diego tying up the match with a 25-20 win.

Ryan Wilcox and his teammates did not want their season to end just yet. The Gauchos took the lead from the very first point without giving the Tritons any room to come back. UC Santa Barbara took the fifth and final set in commanding fashion, hitting .652 on the way to a 15-12 win.

LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS

• Amoruso recorded the most kills for the Gauchos as he put up 20 while hitting .415, only making three errors. Along with that, he contributed an ace and two blocks.
• Wilcox ended the quarterfinals with 17 kills, hitting .406 on the night with only four errors on 32 swings. He also had the most digs on the team with nine while also putting up three blocks and an ace.
• Ben Coordt had a great night at the pin, securing 16 kills while putting up a .361 hitting percentage. He also added on an ace and two blocks.
• Jack Walmer led the offensive efforts again this evening, tallying 50 assists. He also controlled the team's defense with a career-high six blocks and six digs.  

UP NEXT
The Gauchos will be back on the court tomorrow, April 21, as they take on the first-seeded Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors in the semifinal round at 5 p.m. in the Bren Events Center in Irvine, California. The match will be streamed on ESPN+ with live stats available through bigwest.org.