IRVINE, Calif. – The No. 16 UC Santa Barbara Men's Volleyball team (7-6) traveled to Concordia University Irvine on Thursday night and got themselves back in the win column—25-20, 25-19, 24-26, 25-21. Veterans Jack Walmer, Ben Coordt, and Max Gordon entered the starting lineup, with each of them contributing their share to the victory.
 
FROM HEAD COACH RICK MCLAUGHLIN
"Great win for the Gauchos," McLaughlin said. "A solid week of training and leadership by the older guys paid off."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos took their first lead of the match at 10-9 in the first set. Taking that lead came in the midst of a 6-1 run; a Riggs Guy ace and Owen Loncar kill on consecutive points fired the visitors up and continued the momentum swing. Into the media timeout, it was 15-11 Santa Barbara. A decisive point came at 19-14, when the Gauchos denied a slew of attempts from CUI attackers, ultimately ending in a block from Guy and Owen Birg. The Golden Eagles kept it close, forcing Gauchos timeouts at 21-17 and 23-20, but UC Santa Barbara eventually took the set 25-20.
 
After another competitive start, the Gauchos rattled off three in a row to make the score 10-7 early in the second set. CUI countered with a 3-0 run of their own shortly after, and it was 13-12 Gauchos at the midway point. Then, Loncar continued his great form—dating back to his career-night last time out against Pepperdine—with two aces in a row, giving Santa Barbara a four-point lead. They would maintain that lead through the end of the set, allowing CUI to get within three just once. Josh Aruya earned blocks on all three of the final points for the Gauchos, who won 25-19.
 
Now with a two-set advantage, UC Santa Barbara trailed briefly early in the third set. Then, at the end of a 4-0 run, Coordt unleashed a good serve that resulted in another Aruya block, with Walmer and Guy assisting, to force a CUI timeout at 10-7 Santa Barbara. The Golden Eagles countered with a run of their own to tie it at 11 apiece. The teams traded consecutive points until CUI won six out of eight to take a 21-18 lead. The Gauchos responded as Loncar brought the deficit to one—23-22—with two kills and an ace. Staving off two set points, Santa Barbara tied it at 24, but CUI won the next two points to stay alive, 26-24.
 
In the fourth, at 6-4 CUI, it looked like Aruya earned his seventh block but a net violation was called. The Golden Eagles then increased their early lead to 9-4, and the Gauchos needed a comeback to avoid a fifth set. Walmer and Birg combined for two straight blocks before Walmer aced to quickly get the Gauchos back in it, tied at 11. At 16-16, Coordt and Guy had a few great digs to set up a Loncar back-row kill, giving the Gauchos their first lead of the set. Ben Coordt shut the door ever closer with an ace—assisted by the low ceiling—to put the visitors up 19-17. Although trading points, the Gauchos prevented CUI from re-tying the score. After a Guy kill made it 22-20, his serve forced a net violation on the CUI setter, thus bringing the Gauchos two points away from victory. They would seal it a few moments later, winning the set 25-21.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Fresh off his career-high 13 kills against Pepperdine, sophomore Owen Loncar pushed it even higher with 16 kills tonight, hitting .333. He was great all-around, serving a team-high three aces and providing four blocks and five digs.
• Ben Coordt came one kill and one dig shy of a double-double, tallying nine of both. The outside hitter was without an attack error on the night, good for a .450 hitting percentage (9-0-20), and earned five blocks.
• Redshirt senior Jack Walmer had 43 assists—10.75 per set. He also had four blocks. Max Gordon led the team with 10 digs.
• Riggs Guy swung for 12 kills and two aces. The freshman tallied also tallied four blocks.
• The Gauchos had 17.5 blocks as a team tonight, shattering their previous match-high of 9.5 against Missouri S&T—the first match of the year. Owen Birg led all Gauchos with eight blocks. Josh Aruya was right behind him with seven, including two solos.

 
UP NEXT
After just this one match this week, the Gauchos play three next week, hosting a pair of reigning national champions. On Tuesday, Santa Barbara welcomes Cal Lutheran (14-2), representing Division III, to the Thunderdome with the usual 7 p.m. start. The following day, the Gauchos travel to Pauley Pavilion to take on No. 3 UCLA before hosting the Bruins back in the Thunderdome on Friday night.