Micah Goss was determined to make an impact to help the UC Irvine men’s volleyball team win Thursday night’s Big West battle against UC Santa Barbara at the Thunderdome.
Goss didn’t disappoint his teammates and family and friends in the stands. The 6-foot-6 freshman middle attacker out of Dos Pueblos High hit for double figures in kills, and the visiting Anteaters outlasted the Gauchos in five sets, 25-19, 17-25, 19-25, 30-28, 15-12.
The result leaves UCSB at 11-13 overall and 2-5 in the Big West while UC Irvine is 17-6 and 3-4. The teams meet again Saturday in Irvine.
Goss put away 10 kills, posted a .571 hitting percentage, served three aces and totaled four blocks. He scored 15 points, ranking him second on the team behind 6-foot-10 outside hitter William D’Arcy’s 23.
Goss said he was excited to return home and play at the Thunderdome.
“It was so fun being here, seeing a lot of my old high school friends and stuff, seeing some teammates. And, I just did not want to lose here. I love the Thunderdome; I’ve been coming here since was like 10, so it’s been great being here.”
UCSB came so close to spoiling Goss’ homecoming. After a slow start in the first set, the Gauchos picked up their play and took control of the match in sets two and three.
Freshman outside hitter Ethan Saint provided a spark. He blasted six kills, including three from the back row, in the second set. Saint finished the match with 14 kills, hit .333 and added two aces and a block assist for 16.5 points.
A big improvement in the blocking department was a key factor in UCSB taking charge in the second and third sets.
“The blocking was good,” said Saint. “We were being aggressive at the net, getting some good touches. I thought everyone was working a little harder on defense, and our serve passing got a little bit better. We were dialing in the passing a lot because we really we had a bad touch in the beginning. And then we kind of started to figure them out as we went on. So, we were just improving as the game went on.”
UCSB setter Cole Schobel did a nice job spreading the ball around in the second and third sets. Saint and Bruening scored from the pins and Schobel fed Owen Berg for points in the middle as the Gauchos built a 16-8 lead in the third set.
Goss sparked an Irvine comeback with a pair of kills in the middle and a service ace The Anteaters went on a 7-1 run to cut the UCSB lead to 18-15.
Goss has adapted to playing the middle position.
“I played full opposite in high school,” he said. “Yeah, it was a huge learning curve and I’m still learning how to play it. Obviously, my blocking wasn’t the best (tonight), but that’s something I’m still working on. But it’s been fun. It’s been really fun.”
A Ben Pearson kill from the back row got the Gauchos back on track in the third. That was followed by a clutch service ace from Jack Walmer off the bench and an Owen Berg putaway of an overdig after a Bruening blast. Berg finished the set with a crushing kill in the middle off a quick set from Schobel.
The fourth set was a back-and-forth marathon. There were 21 ties in the set. UCSB served at set and match point three times but the Anteaters sided out each time.
At 27-26, Irvine’s 6-6 setter Aidan Riggs stunned the Gauchos with a huge on-two play to tie the score. On the next play, UCSB was called for a net. Bruening sided out to even the score at 28.
Riggs struck again on another on-two play to give Irvine the lead and Nolan Flexen (12 kills) pounded a ball off the UCSB block to end the marathon, 30-28.
The Anteaters jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the fifth set, but UCSB fought back and tied the score at 5-5. The Gauchos, however, could never climb ahead.
Goss connected on a feed from Riggs and D’Arcy (21 kills) converted on the outside after a dig by libero Shane Aitken, putting Irvine on top 7-5.
The Gauchos kept battling behind the hitting of Bruening, who scored 31 points and led all hitters with 26 kills on an impressive .417 percentage. He also served three aces and had three total blocks.
A UCSB hitting error and a net violation gave Irvine a 14-11 advantage before Saint sided out. On the next play, D’Arcy hit a deep spike that was called out, but Irvine coach David Kniffin challenged the call. The assistant referee reviewed the play on the video monitor and reversed the call, thus ending the match.
“In the fourth, we battled the whole way, and kind of had a rough start in the beginning of the fifth,” said Saint. “We were just trying to catch up the whole time. It felt like they were a little bit more in control, and we never were able to battle back.”
