A back-and-forth match tilted toward the UC Santa Barbara women’s volleyball team in the fifth set, as the Gauchos captured the latest edition of the Blue-Green Rivalry with a 26-28, 25-17, 25-22, 22-25, 15-13 victory over Cal Poly on Thursday night at the Thunderdome.
The visiting Mustangs entered the contest with a ten-match winning streak that began with a five-set victory over UCSB on October 7 in San Luis Obispo, but the Gauchos flipped the script in front of their home crowd.
“Obviously it is huge to get the five-set win here, flip the script from what happened at their place, and have some confidence going into the conference tournament,” said UCSB coach Matt Jones.
Eva Travis and freshman phenom Gabi Martinez formed a dynamic duo on the outside for UCSB, finishing with a team-high 19 kills apiece. Kiersten Schmidt and Layanna Green added 13 kills each.
Freshman Jordyn Johnson chipped in 11 kills, and libero Cortni Youngblood led the way with 16 digs.
Set one was fiercely contested. Cal Poly used a 5-0 run to take a 23-20 lead on a UCSB back-row attack violation. However, the Gauchos got back on track with a kill by Green, cutting the deficit to 23-21.
UCSB went on to take a 25-24 lead after back-to-back net violations by Cal Poly. The Gauchos appeared to win the set on a spike by Cal Poly’s Chloe Leluge near the sideline, but it was ruled a kill upon review, tying the set at 25–25.
A kill by Travis from the back row put UCSB ahead 26–25, but Cal Poly responded with three consecutive points, capped by a team block to clinch the set.
The Gauchos responded with a dominant second set to even the match at one set apiece. In set three, the Gauchos pulled away late and took a 2-1 lead on an ace by Bianca Nistor.
Cal Poly jumped out to a 22-17 lead in set four, but UCSB closed the gap to 23-22 after an ace by Ayva Ostavar and a kill from Green. However, Cal Poly clinched the set 25–22 on a kill by Emma Fredrick.
In set five, a block by Jordyn Johnson gave UCSB a 6-4 lead and triggered a Cal Poly timeout. A kill by Schmidt put UCSB ahead 8–6, and Travis extended the lead to 11-9 with a cross-court spike, forcing another Cal Poly timeout.
The Mustangs closed the deficit to 14-13 on a kill by Fredrick, but Martinez came through with a spike down the line to clinch the match for UCSB.
“Honestly the last four or five points were a little bit sloppy. We caught some breaks and got a little bit lucky at times,” Jones said. “But you make your own luck, and we had the lead.”
The Gauchos will host Hawai‘i for Senior Day on Friday, November 14, beginning at 7 p.m.
You must be logged in to post a comment.