NORTHRIDGE, Calif. – The No. 18 UC Santa Barbara Men's Volleyball team (10-10, 1-2 Big West) staved off two match points from No. 8 CSUN (15-6, 0-3 Big West) on Friday night to win their first conference match of the year. Down two sets to one, the Gauchos dug deep, coming back to win the fourth set in extra points before comfortably taking the winner-take-all fifth. A true team win, the final score was 25-23, 21-25, 20-25, 31-29, 15-11.
 
FROM HEAD COACH RICK MCLAUGHLIN
"We kept fighting even though we hit some rough patches, but we finally made some big plays when we needed it most in the last two sets," McLaughlin said. "Good improvement—we got to continue that tomorrow. CSUN will play better."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos played well to start the match. Geste Bianchi went off the block to go up 10-6, then had a great serve that resulted in a free ball and easy kill for setter Cole Schobel. CSUN finally had to take a timeout down 13-7. At 16-12 Gauchos, a 5-0 run—4-0 serving run for Riggs Guy—gave the visitors a substantial 21-12 lead. However, that was still not enough to put the Matadors away; a CSUN ace capped off a 9-2 run, and suddenly Santa Barbara's lead shrunk to 23-21. Thankfully, a Bianchi set-clinching kill put an end to the momentum, giving the Gauchos a 25-23 first set victory.
 
In the second set, CSUN was the first team to take a two-point lead at 8-6, which increased to three at 12-9. Middle blocker Josh Aruya served the first Gaucho ace to make it 12-11, helping the Gauchos re-tie the score at 14. Fellow middle Owen Birg's ace then gave them a short-lived 16-15 lead, but a Matador triple block soon after made it 19-17 CSUN into a Santa Barbara timeout. CSUN would establish a bit of breathing room, eventually tying the match with a 25-21 win.
 
Early in the third, Santa Barbara had trouble receiving serves. CSUN aces helped them build a lead, putting the hosts up 8-5, 10-6, and 12-7. Substitute Ben Coordt gave the Gauchos a spark, serving an ace, himself, to cut the deficit to 18-15. With the Gauchos attempting to come back, a score-swinging CSUN challenge of a net violation was successful, reversing the score from 20-18 to 21-17 Matadors. CSUN was comfortable playing the sideout game from there, prevailing 25-20 to take a two-sets-to-one advantage. Both teams hit well in the set—CSUN hit .464 (15-2-28) to the Gauchos' .417 (13-3-24).  
 
An Aruya-Guy roof on the first point of the fourth set was a sign of things to come. Birg and George Bruening combined on the next block, and the Gauchos were rolling, up 7-2, into an early CSUN timeout. However, it was a good timeout, as the Matadors rattled off a 4-0 run out of it. A bit later, four straight Gaucho attack errors and back-to-back CSUN blocks gave them a massive and sudden reversal, now a 12-9 lead. The Gauchos would not let the momentum snowball even further, though, as a Guy-Birg block then tied it at 18 all. Trading points to 21-21, the ball fell after a joust and the referees awarded a point to Santa Barbara. The ball landed on CSUN's side, but was it in or out? Did CSUN or UC Santa Barbara touch it last? CSUN challenged but the point stood, and it was 22-21 Gauchos. Then, tied at 24, Aruya and Coordt combined on a huge block after Santa Barbara was out of system. CSUN followed by winning the next two points, forcing the first match point at 26-25. The trend of twos continued—the Gauchos won the next two, then CSUN won two and forced match point number two, then Coordt served an ace to make it 29-28 Santa Barbara. Trading two more points, the Gauchos were serving their own set point number four, up 30-29. An Aruya-Schobel block, the Gauchos' seventh of the set, extended the match with a 31-29 victory, capping off an incredibly gutsy performance from the visitors.
 
As the dust settled, the fifth set began. Aruya served an ace, followed by a Guy back row kill and CSUN double contact, giving the Gauchos an 8-4 advantage as the teams switched sides. CSUN would get back to 12-10 with a kill, not out of it yet. The next point, the Matadors served an ace off the tape—nothing the Gauchos could do about it, now 12-11. A Coordt kill settled things down, preventing the Matadors from tying the score. Fittingly, consecutive back row kills from Guy won the match with a 15-11 fifth set win. Guy had five of the final nine Gaucho points to clinch it.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Freshman Riggs Guy had 17 kills on 35 swings, leading the team. He also contributed defensively with four block assists and five digs.
• Fellow freshman pin George Bruening was the other Gaucho with double-digit kills (12), also tallying four block assists. Only middle blockers Owen Birg (five) and Josh Aruya (six) had more.
• The big plays, as McLaughlin mentioned, also came in the form of some crucial digs. Libero Joe Wallace and setter Cole Schobel had 10 and nine, respectively, leading the team. They contributed to CSUN's measly .117 hitting percentage over the last two sets.
• For the Gauchos, it was their second five-setter this week, as they beat Cal Lutheran in five on Tuesday. For CSUN, it was their third consecutive five-setter after beating No. 15 Lewis and falling at then-No. 8 Loyola Chicago last week.

 
UP NEXT
The Gauchos and Matadors run it back tomorrow (Saturday) night, this time in the Thunderdome. First serve is set for 7 p.m. as the UC Santa Barbara campus celebrates spring break. Fans not attending can watch the match on ESPN+ and follow along via live stats as always at ucsbgauchos.com/MVBLiveStats.