UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The No. 16 UC Santa Barbara Men's Volleyball team (11-11, 2-3 Big West) hosted No. 1 Long Beach State (22-1, 4-1 Big West) on Thursday night in the Thunderdome, battling in a four-set defeat. After dropping the first two, the Gauchos extended the match in a dominant third set before the Beach clinched it—25-23, 25-16, 19-25, 25-19. Freshman George Bruening had a solid night, earning 12 kills and six digs hitting .348.
(Entenza Design)
Gaucho fans were incredible in their support—2,243 people watched this highly-anticipated matchup in-person. That number is the highest in 28 years, well before any current Gaucho was even born and more than a decade before head coach Rick McLaughlin was hired. Somehow, 2,935 fans crammed into Rob Gym on April 12, 1997 for a pre-rally scoring five-setter against UCLA.
FROM HEAD COACH RICK MCLAUGHLIN"Congrats to Long Beach, they were the steadier team when needed." McLaughlin said. "I was happy with how we played at times, and those times are starting to come more often. We just have to keep improving at avoiding a big run of points by our opponent. We get another shot tomorrow to improve—looking forward to it."
HOW IT HAPPENEDThe first set was the tightest of the match. After a 4-0 Beach run, the Gauchos responded by winning four of the next five points to tie the score at 9-9. Then, a 3-0 Santa Barbara run gave the hosts a 15-14 lead, forcing a Beach timeout. The Gauchos continued to hold either a small lead or tie up to Josh Aruya's kill which made the score 22-21. The talented Beach then had two kills and a block, taking their first lead since 14-13 and forcing set point. George Bruening made it 24-23 with a kill, but the Beach won the next point to take the opener 25-23.
The competitive first set was followed by a dominant showing from the visitors in the second. With a handful of great servers, the Beach went on an early 5-0 run to an 8-3 lead. At 12-8, Moni Nikolov and Skyler Varga served aces as part of a 7-1 run—now 19-9—that all but clinched the set. Santa Barbara came alive, though, rattling off their own 5-0 run and even forcing a Long Beach timeout. However, a 25-16 second set meant the Beach were one set away from victory.
Early in the third, it was clear that the Gauchos would not roll over. Cole Schobel served an ace and got a kill, setting the tone to an 8-4 advantage. Reigning Big West Freshman of the Week Riggs Guy swung for a kill to make it 11-6 and force a Beach timeout. Santa Barbara was hitting .800 up to that point. The next three Santa Barbara points came courtesy of Guy, too, with two kills and an ace to double the Beach's score, now 14-7. With the potent server Nikolov at the service line, the Gauchos hoped to prevent a serving run, holding a 14-9 lead. A wild rally ended with Ben Coordt earning a kill, but three in a row from the Beach followed anyway. The hosts remained steady as Coordt served an ace to continue the lead to 18-13. A few points later, Guy had a huge solo block at 20-14, and the Gauchos were rolling. Leading the entirety of the set, Santa Barbara pulled one back with a 25-19 score.
Unfortunately for the home fans, the Beach showed their prowess in the fourth, preventing any hint of a Gauchos comeback. Tied at four, a long serving run from a different server, Daniil Hershtynovich, brought the score to 12-4. The Beach were comfortable playing the sideout game from there as the teams nearly traded consecutive points to 21-13. From there, Bruening capped his solid performance with two straight blocks—one solo and one with Aruya—to bring the Gauchos as close as five. Still, Long Beach would not relinquish such a lead, winning the set, and match, with a 25-19 final.
BY THE NUMBERSGeorge Bruening was the only Gaucho with double-digit kills (12) and had the best hitting percentage (.348) of the three qualifying Gauchos. His three blocks were also the most on the team, and his six digs were tied with Riggs Guy for second-most.Joe Wallace was busy, tallying 12 digs, a new season-high. Playing Long Beach brings out the best in the sophomore libero, as his career-high is 15 digs last year in this same matchup.When the Gauchos hosted over 1,000 people earlier this season against UCLA that was the highest attendance for a home men's volleyball match since before the pandemic. This match had more than double the amount of fans with the aforementioned final number of 2,243—a new high for this century.
UP NEXTThe two teams have a quick turnaround, playing again tomorrow night at Long Beach State's Walter Pyramid. First serve is set for 7 p.m., with fans able to watch on ESPN+ and follow along with live stats at ucsbgauchos.com/MVBLiveStats.
Gauchos fall in four sets to #1 Long Beach in front of huge home crowd News Channel 3-12.
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