SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Men's Volleyball team has released its 2026 schedule as the Gauchos gear up for another competitive season in The Big West.

UCSB opens the season by hosting the annual ASICS Invitational at Rob Gym, featuring match ups against Kentucky State (Jan. 8), Maryville (Jan. 9), and Harvard (Jan. 10).

The Gauchos' Thunderdome debut follows soon after, as they welcome The Master's University (Jan. 16) before traveling up the coast to face Stanford (Jan. 22-23) in one of their first big road matchups.

The action continues with a home series against BYU (Jan. 29-30) in a "Mountain versus Ocean" clash between two national contenders.

February begins with a trip south to take on Cal Lutheran (Feb. 5) and USC (Feb. 7), who finished as the runner-up in the 2025 MPSF Conference. The Gauchos then continue their California tour with back-to-back meetings against Pepperdine, first in Malibu (Feb. 13 or 14) and then on home court in the Thunderdome (Feb. 18).

Santa Barbara maintains its home-court advantage with a match up against Lincoln Memorial (Feb. 20) before hosting UCLA (Feb. 25), which finished second in the 2025 NCAA Championship.

As March begins, the Gauchos face UC San Diego (Mar. 6) before heading down to battle UC Irvine (Mar. 11) and later rematching the Anteaters in Santa Barbara on Mar. 13. They'll also welcome Cal Lutheran (Mar. 24) before taking a trip to the rainbow state to go head-to-head with Hawai'i (Mar. 27-28). 

The team makes its way back across the Pacific to face CSUN (Apr. 2) at home before departing to CSUN's home court in Northridge on Apr. 4. 

To conclude the regular season, the Gauchos head to UC San Diego (Apr. 18) before turning its focus to the Big West Championships (Apr. 23-25) in Irvine, where the team looks to make a deep postseason run.

Rick McLaughlin heads into his 18th year as the Men's Volleyball head coach.