SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - In the penultimate week of the regular season, the No. 18 UC Santa Barbara Men's Volleyball team (11-12, 2-4 Big West) has a two-match home-and-home series with No. 5 UC Irvine (16-6, 2-4 Big West), beginning Thursday night in the Thunderdome. The Gauchos look for their first win in this matchup since 2022 as both teams hope to gain ground in the ultra-competitive Big West standings.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Gauchos have now played 15 ranked opponents—all ranked 13 or better—but their toughest test came last week against top-ranked Long Beach State. In the home match, they took a set in front of a packed Thunderdome crowd before falling in three at the Beach's Walter Pyramid. Freshman George Bruening showed off his talent with 22 kills across the two matches, continuing his streak of double-digit kills to four.
 
LOOKING AT THE GAUCHOS
Bruening is the hottest attack option for Santa Barbara, hitting .294 since returning from injury just over a month ago. He has also put in solid defensive work, averaging 1.30 digs per set and 0.70 blocks per set over the past five matches.
 
Libero Joe Wallace has elevated his play recently, too. Over the past six matches, he has tallied double-digit digs in three of them; prior to that, his season-high was nine. At home against Long Beach, the sophomore's 12 digs were the second-most in a match in his career, only behind the 15 he dug in last year's home Long Beach match.
 
The Thunderdome has given the Gauchos a true home-court advantage this season. In late February, over 1,000 fans were in attendance for the match against No. 2 UCLA, a post-pandemic record at the time. Last Thursday hosting No. 1 Long Beach, 2,243 fans packed the Thunderdome, the highest men's volleyball home crowd since 1997.
 
SCOUTING THE ANTEATERS
No. 5 UC Irvine has proven they can dominate any team in the country. They went 7-0 against the MPSF's BYU, Stanford, USC, and Pepperdine, who were all in the top-10 when they played. Even more impressive, the Anteaters are the only team to beat top-ranked Long Beach this season, sweeping them in Walter Pyramid.
 
They have two players who have been named National Player of the Year—Hilir Henno (AVCA) and Nolan Flexen (NAIA). The Frenchman Henno has 4.34 kills per set (third in the country) and 0.74 aces per set (second) in his senior campaign so far. Flexen, who transferred to UC Irvine last year, has 3.43 kills per set this year. The duo have combined for 61% of the team's total attacks in 2025. 
 
Thus, setter Joe Karlous has done well running the offense to the tune of 9.84 assists per set. At the net, Flexen (63 total blocks) along with middle blockers Micah Goss (71) and Maxim Grigoriev (65) have been a formidable presence.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
First serve for Thursday's match in the Thunderdome is set for 7 p.m. Saturday's match at Irvine's Bren Events Center is set for 6 p.m. Both matches can be streamed on ESPN+ with live stats available at ucsbgauchos.com/MVBLiveStats.