The No. 16 UC Santa Barbara Men’s Volleyball team (11-12, 2-4 Big West) traveled to Walter Pyramid on Friday night, falling to No. 1 Long Beach State (23-1, 5-1 Big West) in three sets—25-14, 25-20, 25-17.

For the fourth consecutive match, freshman pin hitter George Bruening reached double digits in kills, tallying an even 10.

The teams traded points early in the first set until Long Beach took a 9-6 lead on a 3-0 run. Josh Aruya and George Bruening combined on a block to help the Gauchos re-tie it at 10 apiece.

The Beach would win five of the next six points, though, taking a 15-11 lead into the first media timeout. Winning the next three out of the break, it finished as a 7-0 run, increasing the score to 18-11 Beach. The set ended with a 25-14 Beach victory.

At 4-4 in the second, a huge double block by Aruya and Ben Coordt fired the Gauchos up. The set continued to 11-7 Beach before Santa Barbara called timeout. Bruening earned his seventh kill to cut the deficit to 16-13 and a Beach attack error shrunk it to 18-16.

A good Coordt serve led to the same result, forcing the first Beach timeout of the night. Immediately after, Owen Birg’s solo block completed the comeback, tying the score at 19-19.

The Gauchos could have taken the lead on the next point, but a questionable touch was called on a Beach swing, leading to an unsuccessful Gauchos challenge. That was the first of a 5-0 Beach run to set point, and they would ultimately take set two 25-20.

Coordt’s back row kill made the score 7-7 to start the third set. By the media timeout, Long Beach had steadily built a 15-11 lead, hitting .583 in the set to that point. Beach were the first to 20, followed by Riggs Guy’s sixth kill to make it 20-14. 

Ethan Saint came off the bench for a kill as Bruening tallied his 10th late in the set. In the end, the top-ranked Beach took the match with a 25-17 third set win.

George Bruening has been very effective since coming back from injury. Beginning with his first match back—March 7 against UC San Diego—his kill totals are 6, 13, 8, 12, 13, 12, and 10 (tonight). He has hit .294 in that span.

Riggs Guy led the team with six digs.

The scoreline in each set aligns with the Beach’s hitting percentage in each set. The hosts hit .550 and .632 in the first and third sets, respectively, with a .061 hitting percentage in the closer second set.

Only four more regular season matches remain for the Gauchos. They play current No. 4 UC Irvine in the Thunderdome on Thursday night at 7 p.m. before traveling south to Bren Events Center Saturday at 6 p.m.

Both matches can be streamed on ESPN+ with live stats available as always at ucsbgauchos.com/MVBLiveStats.