UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The No. 18 UC Santa Barbara Men's Volleyball team (11-15, 2-7 Big West) hosted No. 3 Hawai'i (24-4, 7-2 Big West) on Friday night in the Thunderdome, the first of two matches in consecutive nights to close out the regular season. Despite Cole Schobel's career-high 16 digs and the Gauchos (.267) out-hitting the Rainbow Warriors (.248), the visitors won in four sets—25-22, 19-25, 25-22, 25-20.
HOW IT HAPPENEDHawai'i was without two of their starting pin hitters—Kristian Titriyski and Louis Sakanoko—but that did not stymie their offense early on. The first set flowed strongly back and forth, with Hawai'i having three 3-0 runs and Cole Schobel serving an ace in a 3-0 serving run to make the score 15-13 Rainbow Warriors into the media timeout. Shortly after, the Gauchos again rallied for three in a row, including back-to-back Owen Birg-Ethan Saint double blocks to take an 18-17 lead. Former Rainbow Warrior Jack Walmer entered the match and promptly served an ace, giving the Gauchos a 21-19 advantage. However, Hawai'i would win six of the next seven points to win the set 25-22. They hit .448 (16-3-29) in the set, their best of the match by far.
In set two, the Gauchos responded immediately, taking control from very beginning. George Bruening had four kills in the team's first six points, and it was 10-4 Santa Barbara thanks in part to separate 4-0 and 3-0 runs. A bit later, Josh Aruya served an ace as part of another 4-0 run to increase the lead to 18-8. A Hawai'i service error made it 23-12, and it looked like the Gauchos would coast to victory. Not so fast, as the Rainbow Warriors rattled off five in a row as part of a 7-1 run before an Aruya kill ended the set with a respectable 25-19 scoreline.
Now tied at one set apiece, Hawai'i used that momentum from late in the second set to begin the third, jumping out to a 6-0 advantage thanks in part to two aces from setter Tread Rosenthal. UC Santa Barbara bounced back, though, to halve the deficit to 6-3. From there, the teams settled in, trading points until a Saint kill and block on consecutive points made it 15-13 Hawai'i. The Gauchos completed the comeback, getting to 17-17, before a huge Birg-Bruening block gave them their first lead at 22-21. Unfortunately for the hosts, similar to the first set, the Rainbow Warriors took the next four points to win the set 25-22.
In the fourth, the Gauchos used an early 4-0 run to take a 6-3 lead. The teams played the sideout game to 11-9 before Hawai'i completely flipped the score with a 7-0 run, Kainoa Wade's serving causing problems for Santa Barbara. Now trailing 15-11, Bruening's 17th kill of the night kept the deficit at 17-14 before a Rainbow Warrior ace capped a 3-0 run, making it 20-14. From there, the Gauchos could only get as close as four before succumbing 25-20, ending the match.
BY THE NUMBERSCole Schobel was stalwart defensively, his 16 digs smashing his previous career-high of 12 in the five-setter earlier this year at Cal Lutheran. The setter also had three block assists and an even 40 assists (10 per set).Freshman George Bruening led all players on the floor with 19 kills, also contributing three blocks and five digs. Fellow freshman pin Ethan Saint had a well-rounded night, earning 10 kills—his second career double-digit kill performance—with five total blocks and eight digs.The Gauchos' middle blockers were solid. Josh Aruya hit .727 (8-0-11) with three blocks and an ace, and Owen Birg hit .500 (5-1-8) with a team-leading six block assists.Statistically, the teams were remarkable competitive. Both had 50 kills, the Rainbow Warriors doing so on 117 swings versus the Gauchos' 116. Hawai'i had 10 blocks, 46 assists, and 35 digs compared to the Gauchos' 11, 49, and 38, respectively. As mentioned, Santa Barbara actually had a higher hitting percentage on the night—.267 to .248—despite being on the losing side of the four-set match.
UP NEXTThe teams run it back for one last match of the regular season tomorrow (Saturday) night. Thus, the Gauchos will honor their seven seniors pre-match for Senior Night in the Thunderdome, scheduled for 7 p.m. Fans not attending can stream the match on ESPN+, listen live on ESPN Honolulu, and follow along with live stats at ucsbgauchos.com/MVBLiveStats.
(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics)
Gauchos take a set off of #3 Hawai’i but fall in four News Channel 3-12.
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