The No. 18 UC Santa Barbara Men’s Volleyball team (5-9) hit the road for their only match of the week as they made the quick trip to Thousand Oaks to take on Cal Lutheran.

Despite the rocky start, the Gauchos came back to Santa Barbara with a win as they took down the Kingsmen 3-1 with scores of 22-25, 29-27, 26-24 and 25-19.

“We appreciated the opportunity to play at Cal Lutheran tonight,” UCSB head coach Rick McLaughlin said. “The Gauchos started slow, but worked through it and ended up with a good win.

“There is a lot of work to do this next week for us to be ready for our Big West opener at UC San Diego. We will have to play at a much higher level, which we can. This one should be a dog fight.”

The first set started as a back-and-forth battle between these two teams, with no one being able to gain a lead. That was until the score was tied at 11-11 with Cal Lutheran at the service line.

They went on a 6-2 run that gave the Kingsmen the advantage. It didn’t take long for UC Santa Barbara to rally as they fought back to tie the set at 20-20.

This is when the Kingsmen pushed ahead yet again as they were the first ones to close out a set with a score of 25-22.

The next two sets started similarly to the first as neither team was really able to pull ahead. Neither team could gain more than a two-point lead at any point during these two sets, which resulted in both sets going into extra points.

In each of these sets, it was UC Santa Barbara who came out victorious as they pushed ahead of Cal Lutheran, winning 29-27 and 26-24.

As was the theme of this match, neither team could really pull ahead of the other in the first half of the fourth set.

UC Santa Barbara hit at an impressive .625 clip during this set as the team registered 21 kills and only one error on 32 swings, which helped them gain the advantage they needed.

These offensive efforts and a service run by Geste Bianchi gave UC Santa Barbara everything they needed in the final 10 points to push past Cal Lutheran as the Gauchos took the fourth set 25-19.

Ben Coordt had a phenomenal night on offense. He hit at a .542 clip, recording 15 kills and only two errors on 24 swings.

Geste Bianchi started all four sets for the Gauchos and continues to show why he is one of the best offensive players in the country. He finished the night with 16 kills while adding on an ace from the service line.

His efforts didn’t end there as he led the team in digs with nine while adding on two blocks.

Jack Walmer was the primary setter for the Gauchos. He earned 49 assists while also adding an ace. On defense, he contributed six digs along with two blocks.

The middle blockers were extremely efficient on offense. Josh Aruya hit at a .400 clip while Owen Loncar hit at an .833 clip. To go along with that, Loncar contributed two blocks while Aruya secured one.

The Gauchos will be on the road again next week as they play their first Big West match of the season against the UC San Diego Tritons.

First serve will be at 7 p.m. in La Jolla with a live stream available through ESPN+.