SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – UC Santa Barbara Women's Volleyball defeated CSUN 3-1 tonight to finish their Big West opening weekend 2-0. 

The Gauchos kept up without their key outside hitter, Eva Travis, with Gabi Martinez starting and Sophie Reavis stepping up. Santa Barbara walk away from the weekend now second in the Big West after downing Cal State Bakersfield and CSUN.

FROM HEAD COACH MATT JONES
"That was huge for us," Jones said. "Northridge is going to be a good team in the conference this year. They're super improved from last year. They're playing really good volleyball. And, yeah, obviously, we had Eva out sick tonight, but we also just had some just sick bodies across the team. So, I was just trying to battle through that, and we did a nice job once we kind of started to get the rhythm going. Just proud of everyone who came in tonight and stepped up. That was an important win for us to take care of at home and we'll get back to work next week."

HOW IT HAPPENED
CSUN, freshly off a Friday night loss to Big West No. 1 Cal Poly, directed their retribution efforts towards the Gauchos. Santa Barbara was unable to garner any lead in the first and CSUN took it 25-22. 

The Matadors had custody of the second set until the Gauchos got their first lead of the match at 20-19 thanks to a hammer from Emma McDermott. 

It was tight at 21-21, but Santa Barbara made it to 25 hit by hit. The Gauchos closed out the second 25-22, led by McDermott and her eight kills.

Set three was intense, with events riding especially high during the latter half of the set. After CSUN led at 17-15, there were ties at every point from 18 to 24. The Gauchos made it to 25-24, but a challenge by CSUN switched the score. A well placed tip by Layanna Green got the Gauchos a point for 25-25. Reavis then added a nudge of her own to bring it to 26-25. The Gauchos saw 27-25 after a hitting error by CSUN.

Martinez slammed the first point of set four, then a battle ensued. It was back and forth up until 11-11. The Gauchos kept a marginal lead to 20-18, then jumped ahead to a win of 25-21. 

STAT RECAP
- Martinez led the Gaucho effort with her phenomenal, career-high kill count of 19
- Milan Rex racked up 27 assists alongside 12 digs
- Cortni Youngblood scooped 17 digs and had nine assists
- Reavis had her season-high nine kills

NEXT UP
The Gauchos will head south to Long Beach State on Oct. 3 and UC San Diego on Oct. 4 before returning home to play Cal Poly on Oct. 7.