SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (July 17, 2023) – The UC Santa Barbara Women's Volleyball team is ready to release their matches for the 2023 season. This is the first season under Head Coach Matt Jones, who built a non-conference schedule against some of the top programs in the NCAA to prepare his team to take on The Big West.
 
"We are excited to release our schedule for the 2023 season," Jones said. "We know a big focus for us this year is being stronger from the get-go in our non-conference slate. It's exciting to have some annual powerhouses to test ourselves."
 
The Gauchos will kick off the season in Santa Barbara as they host The Thunderdome Classic. Over the course of three days, New Mexico State, North Florida and Denver will play one match each against the Gauchos from Friday, August 25, through Sunday, August 27. The full schedule for the tournament will be released in the coming days.
 
Before they head to another tournament, the Gauchos will make the trip down the 101 on August 30 to play Pepperdine University, who made their way to the NCAA Tournament last season.
 
"We are excited to fire up our annual match against Pepperdine as we kick this off for the fourth season in a row," Jones said. "We always have great matches with them."
 
The non-conference schedule will continue on with three other tournaments at San Diego State, Utah and Iowa State. This will lead to tough competition highlighted by teams like Oregon, who finished last season ranked seventh in the NCAA, and the Cyclones of Iowa State, who received votes in the final AVCA poll last season. Along the way, UC Santa Barbara will also take on San Francisco, Tennessee State, Drake and Ohio.
 
As soon as the non-conference schedule ends, the Gauchos are headed into Big West play, kicking off the first weekend on the road at UC San Diego and Long Beach State. Once they come back to The Thunderdome, they will take on Cal State Fullerton for Childhood Cancer Awareness Night on September 29 while facing the Anteaters of UC Irvine the following night, where the Blue and Gold will welcome their alumni back to The Thunderdome.
 
From there, UC Santa Barbara will hit the road for matches against UC Riverside and UC Davis before bringing the famous Blue-Green Rivalry back to Santa Barbara on October 12. The following night, October 13, will be a rematch for the top spot in The Big West as the Gauchos host Hawai'i on 80's Night.
 
The Big West schedule continues with an away game at Cal State Bakersfield before UC Santa Barbara welcomes CSUN to The Thunderdome on October 21. The Gauchos invite youth organizations from all over Santa Barbara County for Youth Night, which fans can find more information about under Gauchos Give.
 
There will be a long stretch of away games after that as the Gauchos travel to UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton, Cal Poly and Hawai'i before wrapping up the season with four home games.
 
The first of these games will be against Long Beach State on November 10 as the Gauchos welcome the Santa Barbara Volleyball Club to The Thunderdome. Following that, UC Santa Barbara will take on UC San Diego on November 11 and UC Davis on November 17 as the team hosts a canned food drive. One non-perishable food item will give free admission for either of these women's volleyball matches. The team will close out the regular season against UC Riverside on November 18 for Senior Night.
 
Once the regular season is done, the Gauchos will head to Long Beach, California, for The Big West Championships. UC Santa Barbara hopes to be one of the top two teams to earn a bye in the first round. The Championships will begin November 22 and go through November 25.
 
"The addition of The Big West Tournament adds a new wrinkle to our schedule," Jones said. "We know we need to finish in the top two to get a bye in the first round. We also need to be playing great volleyball going into that Thanksgiving Week in hopes of earning a spot in the NCAA Tournament."
 
Along with all of the promotions listed above, all high school students can get into UC Santa Barbara Women's Volleyball matches for free with a valid high school ID. Tickets for the season will go on sale next Thursday, July 26.