No. 12 UC Santa Barbara finished off a perfect run through the Asics/South Coast Inn-vitational on Saturday night with a tidy sweep of visiting Fort Wayne to push its record to 3-0 on the young season while moving the program’s winning streak in its season-opening tournament to 12 straight matches.
Senior outside hitter Jacob Delson once again led the way offensively for the Gauchos, notching 16 kills and hitting an impressive .519. Pin hitters Hayden Boehle (nine kills) and Corey Chavers (four kills on five swings) also had nice nights on the attack to help the team finish with a .420 hitting percentage. Freshman setters Casey McGarry (21 assists, six digs in two sets) and Randy Deweese (11 assists in one set) co-quarterbacked the team’s offense.
The Gauchos were no slouches on the defensive side of the ball either, going the whole match without a reception error and outblocking the Mastodons 8.0-5.0.
“I was very happy with the way our team continued to improve throughout the tourney,” said UCSB head coach Rick McLaughlin. “Our young guys are learning fast, but we still have much work ahead.”
The Mastodons were led by outside Pelegrin Vargas, who had a team-high eight kills. Fort Wayne failed to get into a groove, though, hitting just .138 for the match including a .080 clip after the first game.
UCSB opens Mountain Pacific Sports Federation league play next week, hosting UC Irvine on Wednesday, Jan. 11 and UC San Diego on Friday, Jan. 13. Both matches are scheduled for 7 p.m. starts at Rob Gym.