UCSB Men’s Volleyball won its first of two games against CSU Northridge with a sweep on Thursday night in the Thunderdome, 25-19, 25-19, 25-22.
The Gauchos (12-9, 3-3 Big West) and Matadors (12-9, 0-5 Big West) will meet again in Northridge on Saturday at 6 p.m. to round out the season series.
UCSB took the first set 25-19, but it took a while to pull ahead. The Gauchos jumped out to an early lead in the set, but the Matadors kept pushing back, keeping the score fairly even.
The Gauchos then extended their lead to a more comfortable 19-15 after a kill by redshirt sophomore outside hitter George Bruening, assisted by junior setter Cole Schobel. An ace serve by Ethan Saint, sophomore outside hitter, cushioned the Gauchos’ lead even further to 20-15.
From there, the two sides went back and forth until UCSB pulled out the 25-19 win.
“They’ve been playing pretty well as a squad for the last few weeks,” UCSB assistant coach Randy DeWeese said. “So when we get to the 20s, we’re kind of relying on every single guy to do their job.”
The second set was even closer to the first, reaching a tie multiple times as CSUN fought to stay close in points. However, the Gauchos once again held on to their lead and ended the set with the same score of 25-19.
CSUN was starting to close in on UCSB late in the second, but the Gauchos pulled ahead with kills from sophomore outside hitter Riggs Guy, Bruening and an ace from junior blocker Josh Aruya to end the set.
“Our guys are playing pretty high-level volleyball at the moment. We’re coming off of some of the best teams in the country and barely losing to them, even beating Irvine,” DeWeese said. “Coming in here and taking care of business was a big stepping point for us.”
The third and final set ended with a score of 25-22 to the Gauchos. Guy was crucial to Santa Barbara’s last few points, as the Matadors were closer than ever this set and even led 20-19.
“[CSUN] is a great team, so it’s great that we all did our jobs,” DeWeese said. “Riggs at the end of that last set, obviously, we were down a little bit, and he got a few key aces.”
“I’m pretty proud of [UCSB], keeping their heads on straight, especially in the 20s. They’re a really good team that can get fired up very quickly, take Long Beach to five [sets], type thing. It’s good they keep their head on straight and put them away.”