LA JOLLA, Calif. – The No. 18 UC Santa Barbara Men's Volleyball team (8-9, 0-1 Big West) travels south to No. 13 UC San Diego (15-4, 1-0 Big West) on Friday night, continuing Big West play. It will be a rematch of last week's conference-opening 3-1 San Diego win in the Thunderdome.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Including this coming match, the Gauchos will play just two matches over two weeks, both on a Friday against the Tritons. Last Friday at home, the Gauchos dropped the first two sets before a slew of substitutions helped to win third. Owen Loncar was one of them, finishing the match with a team-leading 11 kills, five digs, and an ace. The Tritons responded by winning the fourth set, and thus, the match.
 
LOOKING AT THE GAUCHOS
Loncar's performance last Friday made it his fifth match of the past six with double-digit kills. Naturally, it has amounted to a solid 3.53 kills per set in that span. Beyond that, he has been well-rounded; over the past six, he has logged four matches with five or more digs and an ace in three of them.
 
George Bruening made his long-awaited return last Friday, starting and playing for the first time since he had 14 kills at No. 6 BYU on February 7. In two sets, the freshman pin hitter had six kills and three digs. Ben Pearson also was on the court for the first time in nearly two months. He was efficient as a sub, swinging for five kills on just seven attempts while serving an ace and combining on two blocks.
 
Star opposite Geste Bianchi made the active roster against the Tritons, although he did not make it into the match. Prior to an injury—also on February 7 at No. 6 BYU—Bianchi's 5.33 kills per set led the country. The Gauchos have 10 days off after this coming match, so that may impact how the team plays his recovery.  
 
SCOUTING THE TRITONS
UC San Diego is on a six-match winning streak, including wins at No. 8 Stanford and, most recently, over No. 19 Princeton. Picked to finish last in the Big West, the Tritons have six wins over ranked opponents and have climbed as high as 12th in the AVCA Top 20.
 
Anthony Cherfan, an opposite, leads the team with 4.35 points and 3.60 kills per set. For whatever reason, he missed the match against the Gauchos but had 15 kills three days later in the win over Princeton. Outside hitters Josh Schellinger and Leo Pravednikov are close behind him in the team's offensive leaderboard, both with 150+ kills.
 
Senior middle blocker Nick Rigo is the reigning Big West Defensive Player of the Week thanks to his nine total blocks last Friday against the Gauchos. He also contributed eight kills—with no errors—on 14 swings. Rigo continued his great form with six more blocks and five kills on Monday against Princeton.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
First serve for this Friday's match is set for 6 p.m. in the Tritons' LionTree Arena. Fans can watch on ESPN+ or follow along with live stats at ucsbgauchos.com/MVBLiveStats.