SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The #16 UC Santa Barbara Men's Volleyball team (3-0) took care of business against Tusculum on Saturday night, wrapping up the ASICS Invitational with a 3-0 victory. After a dominant 25-15 first set win, the Gauchos' young lineup held firm to competitive 25-22 and 25-21 wins in the final two sets.
 
FROM HEAD COACH RICK MCLAUGHLIN
"The tournament was exactly what we needed," McLaughlin said. "We got the chance to have many of our guys get [playing] time and learned what we need to work on. I was happy with our improvement as the tournament went on."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
McLaughlin opted for a different look on night three with just two upperclassmen in the starting lineup. However, the young guys showed no hesitation as Ben Pearson went on a 7-0 serving run to start the match. With the early cushion, the Gauchos remained in control thanks in part to both Owens getting involved. On back-to-back points, Owen Birg earned a kill and Owen Loncar served an ace to pad the lead to 15-5. Loncar would swat three more kills before the end of the set, including the clincher, on the way to a 25-15 opening set win.
 
The second set began much closer. Talented freshman George Bruening earned his fourth kill of the set to make it 13-9 Santa Barbara. After pulling away to a 16-10 advantage, Tusculum went on a 5-1 run to make it a two-point game at 17-15. Back-to-back kills by Pearson helped get the score back to a more comfortable 23-18 before back-to-back blocks by the visitors brought it to 23-20. Another Pearson kill would be the finishing swing, though, earning the Gauchos a 25-22 second set victory.
 
As the match remained competitive, it was not surprising that UC Santa Barbara fell a tad behind, 5-8, to start the third set. Then, a 5-0 run—another Pearson serving run—capped off by a Birg kill flipped the lead to 10-8 Gauchos into a Tusculum timeout. From there, the teams traded points like sparring boxers, earning ties at 10-10, 11-11, 12-12, 13-13, and 14-14. Consecutive kills by Loncar allowed Santa Barbara to retake the lead that they would never fully relinquish. Tusculum stayed close, never more than three points behind the young Gauchos, and briefly re-tied the score at 21. An Andreas Schuetz kill kick-started newfound momentum, however, and Patrick Kane's two consecutive aces to close out the match put the exclamation point on an undefeated opening weekend.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Cole Schobel deserves mention as the sophomore transfer dished 33 assists and contributed three kills as the primary setter. He also led the team with seven digs.
• Ben Pearson was great serving, but also led the team with 12 kills on just 21 attempts.
• George Bruening felt like a cheat code offensively. The highly-ranked recruit had nine kills and just one error on 11 attempts for a stellar .727 hitting percentage.
• Owen Loncar reached double-digit kills (11) and led the team in aces (three) and points (15).

UP NEXT
After being in Rob Gym all weekend, the Gauchos look to stay in the win column hosting Emmanuel (Ga.) in the Thunderdome on Friday, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. Those who cannot attend can stream the match on ESPN+ or follow along via live stats on ucsbgauchos.com.