THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – In their final non-conference match, the No. 18 UC Santa Barbara Men's Volleyball team (9-10, 0-2 Big West) beat an ultra-competitive Cal Lutheran (19-6) in five sets Tuesday night on the road—25-27, 25-23, 26-28, 25-18, 15-10. The Gauchos finish their non-conference schedule with a winning 9-8 record, playing nine teams ranked 12th or better.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Setter Cole Schobel emphasized his connection with Josh Aruya early—the middle blocker's first three kills accounted for the team's first four points. The offense was clicking beyond just those two, though, as Santa Barbara hit a perfect 10 kills on 10 swings to force Cal Lutheran's first timeout at 10-4. The Division III side played tough from there, shrinking the Gauchos lead to 13-11 and 14-13. After Geste Bianchi served an ace to make it 17-13, the hosts still would not go away. As the dust settled after a few wild rallies, the Kingsmen tied it at 23 and then staved off two Gauchos set points. At 25-25, the hosts would take the next two to win a shock first set upset, 27-25.
 
To start the second, the teams went back and forth to a 9-9 score. Schobel broke the tie with a kill and followed that up with an ace a point later, but it was tied again soon after at 12-12. The teams seemed to mirror each other for a while—after an Aruya block, Cal Lutheran countered with a block of their own. Substitute Ben Coordt broke the trend with a kill to put Santa Barbara up 21-19, a lead that extended to set point at 24-21. The Kingsmen again staved off two set points before Coordt's set-clinching kill tied the match at one—25-23.
 
Schobel started the third set with a 3-0 serving run, but once again the hosts fought back, taking an 11-10 lead into a Santa Barbara timeout. After a double block, Cal Lutheran had their first three-point lead of the night at 15-12. A bit later, Bianchi had a huge dig and kill to complete a 4-0 run, giving the Gauchos a short-lived 19-18 lead. A Cal Lutheran ace tied it at 23, forcing a Santa Barbara timeout. Schobel set up Bianchi for a kill on the next point, but the Kingsmen won the following two to serve for the set. The Gauchos countered with consecutive points of their own, but Cal Lutheran then won three in a row for a 28-26 victory, taking a two-sets-to-one lead.
 
Early in the fourth set, Riggs Guy swung for a back row kill to give Santa Barbara an 8-4 lead. The Gauchos stayed under control, keeping the lead to 12-8 into a Kingsmen timeout. Thousand Oaks High graduate Owen Birg earned a kill before another Bianchi ace and Kingsmen attack error ballooned the lead to 17-11. For the first time since the match's opening points, the Gauchos played free-flowing with a substantial lead. They would force a winner-take-all fifth set thanks to a 25-18 victory.
 
With a 5-3 Gauchos lead, a Cal Lutheran overpass was set perfectly for Schobel, who punished the hosts to make it a three-point game. Then, a Schobel-Aruya double block established more breathing room, now 9-5. The Kingsmen won the next two into a Gauchos timeout, but a Coordt kill off the block stopped a potential run. On the following point, the Gauchos benefited from the low ceiling, with Guy assisting Bianchi to make it 11-7. Immediately after, Bianchi and Aruya combined on a block before an Aruya solo block put the writing on the wall. Guy's match-clinching kill gave the Gauchos a 15-10 fifth set win.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Geste Bianchi's 28 kills are the highest of any Gaucho this season, besting Riggs Guy's 25 against No. 2 UCLA. It is the third-highest of Bianchi's career, behind a 32-kill night at Hawai'i and 30 against George Mason, both in 2024.
• Cole Schobel's 53 assists gives the sophomore a new career high. He was efficient with his swings, too, earning seven kills on 10 swings.
• Bianchi and Schobel had all four of the team's aces—two each—and tied each other for the team lead in digs with 12 apiece.
• Middle blocker Josh Aruya had a great night. Of his nine swings, eight resulted in kills for a .889 hitting percentage. His seven total blocks (one solo, six assists) led the team.
• This match was just the Gauchos' second five-setter of the season. The first one came at No. 10 Grand Canyon where they fell one set short of a reverse sweep.

 
UP NEXT
The first match of three this week, the Gauchos next play against No. 8 CSUN, resuming Big West play. On Friday, they travel to Northridge for a 6 p.m. start before hosting the Matadors in the Thunderdome on Saturday at 7 p.m. Fans not attending can watch both matches on ESPN+ and follow along with live stats as always on ucsbgauchos.com/MVBLiveStats.