SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The No. 15 UC Santa Barbara Men's Volleyball team is geared for back-to-back matches against No. 8 BYU this week, first taking on the Cougars Thursday, Jan. 29 in Rob Gym. They'll transition to The Thunderdome for Friday, Jan. 30th's match, and both will begin at 7:00 p.m.

INSIDE THE GAUCHOS
The Gauchos are coming off a strong performance last week, where they clinched a clean 3-0 Friday victory. The win broke Stanford's multiple-match win streak over the Gauchos and served as the Gauchos' first ranked win of the season. Following the victory, Santa Barbara ascended two spots in the national rankings and stands at 15th as of Jan. 26. 

TRACKING THE COUGARS
The No. 8-ranked BYU Cougars are opening with a strong 4-2  start to their season. A key strength for BYU lies at the net, where its middle blockers establish an intimidating defensive presence. This is complemented by an agile 2-backcourt defense that excels at transition play. The Cougars' strategic use of pressure from the service line is expected to be a pivotal factor in their upcoming games.

OPPONENT HISTORY
The Gauchos are 28-51 in history against BYU and 2-8 this decade. Santa Barbara is 7-9 at home versus the Cougars since 2010, though BYU holds a six-game win streak. The Gauchos have not won a set against the Cougars since 2024, which they look to do again this weekend.

TUNE IN
Tickets and live stats for both matches are available at ucsbgauchos.com, while ESPN+ will have streaming.