The No. 17 UC Santa Barbara Men’s Volleyball (4-8) team returned home for an all-California clash with No. 12 Pepperdine on Thursday night in Rob Gym.

The Gauchos started strong, then rallied late to force a fifth set, but fell in that deciding frame, dropping the match with scores of 25-13, 22-25, 23-25, 25-20 and 15-9.

“Congratulations to the Waves. They made the important plays when necessary,” UCSB head coach Rick McLaughlin said. “It was a disappointing effort for the Gauchos. We will try to learn from it and be better on Saturday at Pepperdine. We’ll see what happens.”

The Gauchos flew out of the gates, leading from wire to wire in their first-set victory. Ben Coordt got things going with an early run at the service line, then Josh Aruya did the same later in the set, helping Santa Barbara build its largest lead of the night at 19-11.

Sam Collins came off the bench and finished the set, serving all three points of a 3-0 scoring run, including an ace.

It was a much tighter affair in the second set, with the teams going back and forth early. Neither side led by more than two through the first 16 points of the second frame, though it was the visitors from Malibu doing much of that leading.

After one of Rees Barnett’s match-high 18 kills brought the home team back within one, 11-10, Pepperdine kicked into gear and pulled away with a 5-0 scoring run.

The Waves led the rest of the way, though Jack Walmer did nearly spark a comeback, keying a late scoring run from the service line.

It looked to be back to business as usual for Santa Barbara in set number three, with the Gauchos again building an early lead around scoring runs served up by Coordt and Aruya.

As the set went on, Pepperdine would find ways to surge back and nip at the Gauchos’ heels, but it took until both teams had scores in the 20s for the visitors to finally lead.

A poorly timed Santa Barbara service error kickstarted a 4-0 run for the Waves that was just enough to put them ahead, 23-21. They would take the set from there.

Much like the second, set number four was a back-and-forth battle early, with neither team leading by more than one point until Greg Baglio served up an 8-0 run for the Gauchos, putting them ahead, 14-7.

From there, Santa Barbara kept Pepperdine at arms’ length; the Waves only came within five points of their hosts once before the set ended, and that was at set point. Baglio assisted Barnett for the finishing kill.

Unfortunately for the Gauchos, the fifth set was a shortened version of the fourth, only with the roles reversed.

After the teams could not get more than a point away from each other, a Pepperdine sub changed the game, serving up a 6-0 run for the visitors.

When a service error finally broke that run, the Waves had a 13-8 lead, which proved insurmountable.

Rees Barnett’s 18 kills led all players on the night; Owen Birg and Ben Coordt joined him in the double-digit club for the Gauchos with 13 and 12, respectively.

Coordt had the most efficient night for Santa Barbara, hitting at a .393 clip

Greg Baglio continued as the Gauchos’ setter on Thursday, marking his third straight appearance in that role with an impressive 47 assists; one off his career high.

Joe Wallace kept up his reliable defense in the back row for Santa Barbara, coming up with 10 digs and providing four assists.

At the net, both Josh Aruya and Owen Loncar made a team-high four blocks, with a solo block each.

The Gauchos and Waves will play part two of this series on Saturday, Feb. 10 in Malibu. First serve is set for 5 p.m. from Pepperdine’s Firestone Fieldhouse.

A live stream will be available through ESPN+.