The No.12 ranked UC Santa Barbara men’s volleyball team pushed No. 1 UCLA to the brink, but ultimately fell short in straight sets on Wednesday night, 3-0 (25-23, 28-26, 32-30),
The Thunderdome was rocking for a tightly contested men’s volleyball matchup that featured two extended sets. Despite the sweep, each set was decided by two points, and the third extended to 62 total points, marking one of UCLA’s longest sets of the season.
“Every little mistake is amplified. You’ve got the crowd on your side and you want to go hard for these sets, but sometimes you have to play a little smarter,” said UCSB assistant coach Randy DeWeese of playing the No. 1 team in the country. “They definitely played a little smarter at the end. Coming into the Big West you are going to see a lot of that. We are going to play very close games and we’re going to get smarter and smarter.”
UCLA opened the first set with a 5-1 lead and later stretched the margin to 13-6., but UCSB responded with a 6-1 run to close within 14-12. A block by Ethan Saint and Dylan Pilkvist tied the score at 16-16, beginning a sequence of six additional ties. An ace by Riggs Guy evened the score at 22–22, and a kill from Mikey Denver made it 23-23 before UCLA secured the final two points capped off by a Micah Wong Diallo Kill that gave the Bruins the set 25-23.
UCSB led much of the second set, taking an early 4-1 advantage and building its largest lead at 15-10 following a service ace by George Bruening. UCLA rallied to tie the set at 17-17, and the teams traded points until UCLA reached set point at 24-23, Bruening responded with a kill. Guy later gave the Gauchos a set point at 26-25, but UCLA scored the final three points and took the set 28-26 after an electric ace by Christopher Hersh.
The third set featured 14 ties and remained close throughout. Neither team led by more than two points until UCLA built a 17-13 advantage. UC Santa Barbara answered with four consecutive kills and a UCLA error to tie the score at 19-19. The Gauchos briefly took a 23-21 lead following a sequence that included assists from Bruening and Guy and a kill by Cole Schobel. UCLA tied the set at 23-23, and the teams exchanged points as Santa Barbara fought off four match points before UCLA closed out the match 32-30 on an ace by David Decker.
We have a ton of respect for Santa Barbara, their staff and the job that they are doing so we just had to stay resilient,” said UCLA head coach Jeff Hawks. “We have some veteran guys that have been here and done it so it’s just a matter of going back to the service line, going through our routines and trusting their process.”
UC Santa Barbara hit .459 in the third set, recording 19 kills on 37 attempts.
Bruening led the Gauchos with 16 kills while hitting .412 and added seven digs. Riggs Guy and Ethan Saint each contributed 10 kills, with Saint recording four block assists. Denver had three kills on five attempts, and Schobel totaled 12 assists per set along with the match’s only solo block.
UC Santa Barbara is scheduled to host No. 9 UC San Diego on Friday, March 6, at the Thunderdome.
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