MALIBU, Calif. – The No. 16 UC Santa Barbara Men's Volleyball team (6-6) nearly mounted a third-set comeback at No. 11 Pepperdine (7-3) on Saturday night, but ultimately fell 25-16, 25-19, 25-23.
Jack Walmer tallied his 2,000th career assist and
Owen Loncar hit .407 on the way to a career-high 13 kills.
Pepperdine was celebrating the 20th anniversary of their most recent national championship, with both head coaches having ties to that team. Pepperdine's Jonathan Winder was honored as the primary setter, and UC Santa Barbara head coach
Rick McLaughlin was honored as an assistant coach of the 2005 team.
FROM HEAD COACH RICK MCLAUGHLIN
"I liked how our team stayed together tonight," McLaughlin said. "Pepperdine played well, but unlike last night, we made them earn most of their points. If we can continue to improve in this area, we can get back to competing at a higher level."
HOW IT HAPPENED
Turning the page from last night's defeat, the Gauchos began the match battling to a 6-6 tie. Pepperdine won four in a row from there, capped by their fourth block, already, into a Santa Barbara timeout. The run established some breathing room, as the teams traded eight consecutive points before the Waves eventually increased their advantage to 17-11 and 20-12. After a 25-16 opening set win, Pepperdine had a 1-0 lead.
Josh Aruya made an impact to start the second set, tallying two early points on a kill and a block. Once again, the Gauchos remained competitive early with the score at 6-6. Later,
Owen Loncar's seventh and eighth kills brought Santa Barbara within one at 12-11. The ensuing stretch had a handful of long rallies, with the Waves winning a few crucial swing points to pad their lead, 18-13, into a Gauchos timeout. An Aruya ace made it 21-17, but the Gauchos could not cut into the lead any further. Santa Barbara had two consecutive blocks at set point, but Pepperdine took the second set 25-19.
In the third, McLaughlin went to his bench for some fresh legs;
Jack Walmer,
Sam Meister,
Ben Coordt, and
Max Gordon all checked in to start the set. Walmer was sitting at 1,997 career assists between his time at Hawai'i and with the Gauchos, and he promptly set his 2,000th on the team's third point.
Shortly after, again tied at 6, Pepperdine responded by rattling off six of seven points. Consecutive attack errors from the Waves brought the score to 14-12, though, and a successful Gauchos challenge kept them alive at 16-13 Pepperdine. A Meister kill and Aruya block on back-to-back points forced Pepperdine's first timeout of the night at 20-17. Meister then served an ace, but the Waves soon got it back to a four-point lead—now 22-18. Freshman
Ethan Saint, earning his second career start in as many nights, then swung two kills in a row. McLaughlin subbed in
Owen Birg for Walmer to strengthen Santa Barbara's middle block, and Birg immediately earned a block with Aruya to get it to 22-21. Forcing another Waves timeout, the Gauchos went to the bench with some energy and momentum. At 23-22, a long rally gave the Gauchos two swings to tie it, but ultimately, the Waves won the point. At match point, a Coordt kill extended the match before a Santa Barbara service error ended the third set, 25-23 Pepperdine.
BY THE NUMBERS
- As mentioned, sophomore Owen Loncar had arguably his best night in a Gaucho uniform. His 13 kills are a career-high, and he did it on only 27 swings with just two attack errors.
- Setter Jack Walmer reached an impressive milestone, but his performance on the night was impressive, itself. His 14 assists in the third set contributed to the Gauchos' .357 hitting percentage in the set, the highest of any of the six total sets against Pepperdine.
- Josh Aruya hit an efficient .429 in limited attempts (4-1-7) and was tied for the team-lead in blocks (3) with Owen Birg.
- Still new to the starting lineup, Ethan Saint had eight kills on 18 swings in his second collegiate match.
- After hitting .302 as a team with an 84% sideout percentage last night, Pepperdine was even better tonight, hitting .437 with an 84.7% sideout percentage tonight.
UP NEXT
After wrapping up the five-match stretch against top-12 opponents, the Gauchos travel to Concordia University Irvine on Thursday for their lone match next week. A rematch of the January 29 Gauchos sweep in the Thunderdome, first serve in CU Arena is set for 6 p.m. Fans can stream the match on B1G+ or follow along via live stats as always at ucsbgauchos.com/MVBLiveStats.
