SANTA BARBARA, Calif – UC Santa Barbara Women's Volleyball Head Coach Michael Henchy announced the Gauchos' 2026 schedule on July 8. The Gauchos are set to host 12 home matches and will feature in four tournaments. Alongside the schedule release, season tickets are also available.
The team enters the season under a new coaching staff, led by Henchy, alongside Associate Head Coach and Recruiting Coordinator Charlie Condron, and Assistant Coach Sam Calisto. The Gauchos return 2025 Big West Freshman of the Year Gabi Martinez and add five transfers to the roster.
The Gauchos will jump-start their season with a three-day tournament in the desert, first taking on Tarleton State at the host institution, Arizona on Friday, Aug. 28. They'll continue the tournament against Prairie View A&M on Aug. 29 and wrap the weekend against Arizona on Aug. 30.
The Blue and Gold will then return to Santa Barbara for their home opener at The Thunderdome, a showdown versus Iowa State on Friday, Sept. 3. On Sunday, Sept. 5, the Gauchos will host Utah State.
Back on the road, the Gauchos will travel to the Mountain West, playing Wyoming on Thursday, Sept. 10, before heading south to Colorado State's Moby Arena for two more matchups. Santa Barbara will battle CSU on Friday, Sept. 11 and South Dakota on Saturday, Sept. 12.
The Gauchos will continue their away stretch at Pepperdine on Sept. 18, before wrapping up tournament play versus UC Davis on Sept. 19 and nationally prominent USC on Sept. 20 at the Galen Center.
Conference play will commence on Friday, Sept. 25 with a home match versus CSUN and continue on Sunday, Sept. 27 at home versus Cal State Bakersfield.
The Gauchos will begin October with a four-match road campaign, beginning with Utah Valley on Thursday, Oct. 1 and Sacramento State on Saturday, Oct. 3. Santa Barbara will head to SoCal on Oct. 9 and 10 to play Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton.
UC Santa Barbara then returns to The Thunderdome on Oct. 16 and 17 to host UC Riverside and California Baptist. The homestand continues the next week with a rivalry matchup against Cal Poly on Thursday, Oct. 22, before the Gauchos head to San Luis Obispo for the second leg of the Blue-Green Rivalry series on October 23.
The Blue and Gold close out October with another pair of road matches against UC San Diego and UC Irvine on Oct. 30 and 31. The Gauchos then return home for their final home slate of the regular season, hosting Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State on Nov. 6 and 7 before welcoming Sacramento State and Utah Valley the following weekend on Nov. 13 and 14.
Finally, UC Santa Barbara will wrap up the regular season on the road with matches against California Baptist and UC Riverside on November 20 and 21.
Season tickets are available at ucsbgauchos.com/tickets. Junior Gauchos memberships, which provide free entrance to all ticketed sports for children under 12, are also up for purchase.
