AMES, Iowa (Sept. 14, 2023) – The UC Santa Barbara Women's Volleyball team (9-1) headed to Ames, Iowa for the final weekend of non-conference play as the Gauchos took on No. 23 Iowa State University in the opening match of the Cyclone Invitational. It only took four sets to decide the winner, and tonight, it was the Gauchos who came back to win after dropping the first set (25-20, 25-20, 25-18, 25-20). This is the first time the Gauchos defeated a ranked program since 2016, and the first time they defeated a ranked program on the road since 2013.
 
FROM HEAD COACH MATT JONES
"Obviously, it was a big night for the program, beating a ranked team on the road for the first time in 10 years. I was really impressed with the offensive balance we showed tonight and the team's ability to adjust to the scouting report in-match and execute it cleanly in the last three sets. While we are really proud of this win and for the Gaucho community to celebrate with us, we are trying to now flush this out and move forward. We're going to take it one match at a time and focus on playing good volleyball."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The first set did not start off strong for the Gauchos. Even though they kept with the Cyclones for the first 10 points, Iowa State ran away with it. This resulted in UC Santa Barbara dropping the first set 25-20.
 
However, the Gauchos picked it up in the second. They went point-for-point with this nationally-ranked team before Macall Peed's five-point service run shifted the momentum to Santa Barbara. But the Cyclones bounced back, tying the set at 12's. The two teams exchanged a few points before Michelle Ohwobete and Andi Kreiling slammed down two kills, pushing the Gauchos ahead. They kept with that pace as the offense hit at a .314 clip to secure the second set 25-20.
 
Santa Barbara did not let up from here. They came out on fire in the third set, going up by as many as nine points to take an early lead. The Cyclones chipped away at what the Gauchos built, but it took a service run and back-to-back aces from Angie Dentoni to give UC Santa Barbara the final push they needed to wrap this one up. The Gauchos took the third set 25-18 to go up 2-1 in the match.
 
From there, the Gauchos kept their feet on the gas. They did not let up on Iowa State no matter how hard the home team tried to fight back. With the Cyclones out of challenges and timeouts, UC Santa Barbara battled through the remainder of the fourth set in high fashion, taking down the No. 23 Cyclones 25-20 in the fourth and final set.  
 
LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS

• Ohwobete had a stellar evening for the Gauchos, hitting at a .415 clip with 19 kills and only two errors on 41 swings. Along with that, she added on nine digs.
• Briana McKnight had a great performance tonight on defense, notching a career and match-high of 20 digs. Along with that, she helped out in the front row by putting up four blocks. She even got work done from the service line by adding on two aces.
• Grace Wuischpard was an impactful player in the middle. She hit at a .375 clip while tying a team-high four blocks.
• Peed added to the team's success in the back row with 14 digs of her own. As she always does from the service line, she contributed to the team's efforts with two aces.

UP NEXT
The Gauchos will be back for the second match of the Cyclone Invitational as they take on the Drake University Bulldogs, who defeated Ohio University in five sets during their first match of the tournament. First serve will be at 2 p.m. PT with a live stream available through ESPN+ and live stats through StatBroadcast.