SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The No. 14 UC Santa Barbara Men's Volleyball team (6-1) defeated Concordia University Irvine (4-3) in the Thunderdome on Wednesday night, a 3-0 sweep. Geste Bianchi's 20 kills boosted his nation-leading kills per set mark to 5.44, while Riggs Guy tallied double-digit kills for the fourth time in his last five matches.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The first set was the Gauchos' best of the night—and, it put some of their serving issues in the rearview. Beginning with three kills from Bianchi and two apiece from Guy and Cole Schobel, the score was 10-5 Santa Barbara. Owen Birg then followed with a 4-0 serving run, including two aces, to increase the lead even further. After one more kill from both Schobel and Guy, an Andreas Schuetz ace made it 18-8. Ben Coordt got in on the action, serving an ace late, as the Gauchos cruised to a 25-13 opening victory. UC Santa Barbara hit a blistering .500 (14-2-24) in the dominant first set.
 
In set two, the swings were not earning points as easily. Five attack errors partially resulted in a 9-6 deficit for Santa Barbara that held to 12-9. A favorable 3-0 run capped by a Coordt kill tied the score, and the teams traded points to 16-15 CUI. The Gauchos responded by rattling off seven of the next eight points to take a commanding 22-17 lead. Bianchi then swung four of the last five Gaucho kills, including the clincher, to take the second set 25-20. Great defensive work helped, too, as CUI was held to just seven kills on 26 attempts for a .077 hitting percentage in the set.
 
Last year, CUI took three different ranked teams to five sets, as well as UC Santa Barbara, who was unranked at the time. Determined to avoid a sweep, the Golden Eagles battled in the third set. From zero to nine, the teams were tied at every number except (the number) one. CUI broke away with a 4-0 run, then held their lead to as far along as 17-12 and 21-17. The Gauchos won four of the next five points, though, culminating with a block from Schuetz and Bianchi. After a CUI kill made it 23-21 in favor of the visitors, a CUI attack error and another block from Bianchi and Birg brought the score level. The Golden Eagles won the next point, but Bianchi's kill extended the set—now 24-24. That trend would continue as CUI would force three more set points, but the Gauchos would win the next point each time. After a lengthy touch-at-the-net challenge flipped the score in favor of CUI—27-26—a Bianchi kill, Schobel ace, and Guy kill fittingly ended the match. In total, the Gauchos staved off four set points and came back from a five-point deficit in the final set to complete the sweep.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• As mentioned, Geste Bianchi unsurprisingly had 20 kills, but he was also close to a double-double. His nine digs led the team and he had three blocks, too.
• True freshman Riggs Guy hit 12 kills and had five digs, both totals only behind Bianchi for the team lead.
• Setter Cole Schobel dished 33 assists and had two aces and three blocks. Owen Birg, as usual, put in a solid shift with two aces and five blocks, the latter leading all Gauchos.

 
UP NEXT
Now the gauntlet begins—UC Santa Barbara plays five consecutive top-12 opponents. That stretch starts this Friday at 5 p.m. in Rob Gym hosting No. 12 Lewis University. In the split preview published earlier this week, fans can read more about the upcoming match against the Flyers. As always, the home match will be streamed on ESPN+ and live stats will be available at ucsbgauchos.com/MVBLiveStats.