Led by dominant offensive performances from outside hitter Jacob Delson and Henri Cherry and helped by strong debuts from freshman setters Randy DeWeese and Casey McGarry, UCSB won a pair of four-set contests against non-conference foes McKendree and Mt. Olive on Friday to open the 2017 season at the Asics/South Coast Inn-vitational.
A veteran leader on a team that lost four starters from a season ago, Delson recorded two of the three-most prolific offensive performances in his career on Friday, including a career-best 21 kills against Mt. Olive.
“He played great today, and he’s going to have to do that when you have a young team around you,” said UCSB head coach Rick McLaughlin. “He’s got to carry them on his back a little bit and he did that in both matches.”
With the pair of triumphs, UCSB has now won 11 straight Asics Invitational matches dating back to 2013.
Delson was far from the only Gaucho to put on an impressive display in his 2017 debut.
Cherry was a force to reckon with in the middle, totaling 19 kills for the day on .826 hitting. Junior outside hitter Hayden Boehle was also a solid performer all day long, notching 24 kills and finishing a dig short of a double-double against Mt. Olive.
At the center of it all were newcomers DeWeese and McGarry, who steered the team to .447 and .426 hitting percentage, respectively. Both averaged over 10 assists per set, while McGarry finished with 53 assists in his debut.
In the back row, Parker Boehle scooped up 22 digs including 14 in the latter contest.
UCSB will finish up the Asics/South Coast Inn-vitational with a 6:30 matchup Saturday against Fort Wayne (formerly IPFW). For a complete schedule of the tournament, click here.