SAN DIEGO – The UC Santa Barbara Women's Volleyball team (2-4) played in their final match of the Jack Talmadge Classic at the Jenny Craig Pavilion against the University of San Diego. This match took all five sets for a winner to be decided, and at the end, it was UC Santa Barbara who lost to San Diego with scores of 25-21, 25-23, 23-25, 19-25 and 7-15.  
 
FROM HEAD COACH MATT JONES
"It's always disappointing when you lose a match that you were in a good position to win. We made a lot of unforced errors towards the end. I think there is a lot we can learn from today as we head into our next match on Tuesday against Stanford."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos came out strong compared to the other two matches in this tournament. Layanna Green contributed back-to-back blocks to help give her team the early lead. However, the Toreros fought back immediately, tying up the set at 8-8. From there, the home team pushed ahead, growing their lead to four halfway through the set. That's when the Gauchos picked up the pace. Eva Travis contributed three straight kills that tied up the set followed by Grace McIntosh notching back-to-back aces. That was what the Gauchos needed to push forward. With one last kill from Andi Kreiling, UC Santa Barbara came out with a win in the first set with a score of 25-21.
 
The second set told a similar story to the first as the Toreros started off strong. Every time UC Santa Barbara would get close to tying things up, San Diego would stop them in their tracks. However, that changed after Lois Hansen recorded back-to-back kills that tied the score up at 23 apiece. That's when Green contributed a block and Hansen added on yet another kill. With those two points, UC Santa Barbara closed out the second set with a score of 25-23, going up 2-0 in the match.  
 
The Gauchos seemed to pick up where they left off as they started the third set with a 4-0 run as Hansen hand stayed hot as she recorded three-straight kills. But even with Hansen's efforts, the Toreros weren't ready to go down without a fight. They slowly chiseled away at the lead UC Santa Barbara built, ultimately tying up the set and taking the lead at 14's. Even though the Gauchos did what they could to reclaim the lead, it wasn't enough as San Diego won the third set 25-23.
 
At the start of the fourth set, the Toreros picked up where they left off. They were the ones to start the set with a 4-0 run, taking the lead and not letting the Gauchos back in. UC Santa Barbara did not have the answers for stopping San Diego no matter what they tried. Because of that, the Toreros took the fourth set with a score of 25-19, causing the Gauchos to play their second five-set match in as many days.
 
Once the fifth set began, the Gauchos started off hot, immediately going on a three-point run. However, San Diego wasn't ready to back down. They came back even stronger, earning six straight points to take the lead over UC Santa Barbara. From there, it was all the Toreros as they sided out right away and kept the Gauchos from going on any runs. This resulted in the fifth set going to the home team with a score of 15-7.
 
LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS

• Grace McIntosh had one of the best performances of her career as she notched her third double-double of the season with 30 assists and 19 digs. Not only that, but she led the team from the service line, racking up three aces.
• Emma McDermott had another great showing for the Gauchos on the outside as she registered the first double-double of her career, ending the match with 17 digs and 10 kills. Along with that, she added on four blocks and two aces.
• Lois Hansen had a great match on the right side. She racked up 19 kills and five blocks.
• Eva Travis added another double-digit performance to the stat sheet as she concluded today's match with 14 kills. She also helped out on defense with two blocks.
• Andi Kreiling and Layanna Green did what they could to make it difficult for the Toreros to make it over the net. Kreiling led all players on the court in blocks, registering six, while Green was close behind with five.

UP NEXT
The Gauchos will be back in action in just about 48 hours as they play their first home match of the season against No. 5 Stanford. First serve will be at 7 p.m. in The Thunderdome on Tuesday, Sept. 10. For those who can't make it to Santa Barbara in person, they can watch the match through ESPN+ or follow along with live stats.