THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Starting a three-match week, the No. 18 UC Santa Barbara Men's Volleyball team (8-10, 0-2 Big West) travels to Division III Cal Lutheran (19-5) on Tuesday evening. It will be the Gauchos' final match of non-conference play, which resumes against No. 8 CSUN on Friday.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Gauchos have played just two matches in March, both against conference foe UC San Diego. In the most recent match—March 14 on the road—Santa Barbara fell in four sets to the No. 13 Tritons. However, the good news was that opposite Geste Bianchi and setter Cole Schobel returned from injury, contributing 20 kills and 42 assists, respectively.
 
SCOUTING THE KINGSMEN
Cal Lutheran, the reigning Division III national champions, have won five of their last six matches since losing to the Gauchos and CSUN about a month ago. They have consistently been ranked in the top-10 of the nation's DIII programs, currently sitting at eight. Back on February 25 in the Thunderdome, the Kingsmen forced extra points in the first set against the Gauchos, but the hosts ultimately won the match in a sweep.
 
The Kingsmen are led offensively by three graduate pin hitters—Jordan Cooper, Michael Stahl, and Ben Weber. All three have accumulated more than 200 kills this season, with Stahl's 3.49 kills per set leading the team. In the prior meeting against UC Santa Barbara, Weber led the team with 10 kills and five blocks, while Cooper had a team-leading 10 digs.
 
Senior middle blocker Borys Horiuk is a presence at the net, earning 0.85 blocks per set this season. Libero Braden Gonzales had nine digs against the Gauchos in the previous matchup and leads all Kingsmen in the category on the year by a significant margin.
 
LOOKING AT THE GAUCHOS
UC Santa Barbara is looking to snap a four-match losing streak, their last win coming against the Kingsmen. In between, they played No. 2 UCLA and No. 13 UC San Diego home and away, dropping each of them in four sets.
 
As mentioned, the Gauchos got Geste Bianchi and Cole Schobel back from injury last time out. The match prior, pin hitter George Bruening also returned; the talented freshman then tallied 13 kills in San Diego. Fellow pin Ben Pearson returned with Bruening and started the second, road match against the Tritons.
 
Defensively, libero Joe Wallace set a season-high in digs (10) last match against UC San Diego. His 71 digs on the year are right behind Schobel's 72 for the team lead, with Riggs Guy's 66 close behind both of them. Owen Birg continues to substantially lead the team with 52 total blocks (0.85 per set) so far this season.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
First serve for Tuesday's match is set for 6 p.m. Fans not traveling to Thousand Oaks can watch the match on a Cal Lutheran livestream—linked here—and follow along via live stats at ucsbgauchos.com.