The UCSB men’s volleyball squad was swept by top-ranked Hawai’i squad in a Big West match at Rob Gym on Friday night, 25-22, 25-21, 29-27.
The Rainbow Warriors and the Gauchos were tied 9-9 in the first set. Hawai’i took a slight advantage from there, going on a 3-0 run behind the serves of setter Jakob Thelle.
The Gauchos fought back and caught Hawai’i at 21-21. Despite the stellar play from Gaucho setter Jack Walmer, who played on Hawai’i’s national championship team last season, UCSB faltered down the stretch.
UCSB flew out of the gates at the start of the second set, jumping out to a 5-0 behind two service aces from Walmer. The Gauchos built their lead to 9-2 following two kills from outside hitter Ryan Wilcox.
But Hawai’i roared back with a 9-2 run, tying the score at 11.
The Rainbow Warriors continued their and led 20-17.
A pair of service aces from Dayne Chalmers helped bring the Gauchos back to knot the score at 20.
But their serving luck ran run out as the Rainbow Warriors were able to string together a couple of kills, leading to their 25-21 win.
The Gauchos kept battling in the third set. Kills by Nick Amoruso and Wilcox helped open up 14-10 advantage.
Hawai’i countered with kills from Voss, Thelle and Chakas Spyros and tied the score 17-17.
The Gauchos had set point at 24-22, but Hawai’i made plays in crunch time to complete the sweep.
Guilherme Voss produced a kill followed by an ace from Keoni Thiim to tie the score.
Chaz Galloway followed with a kill but UCSB proceeded to fend off three set points before Chakas finished off the match.
Hawai’i hit .420 as a team, led by Chakas with 13 kills.
Amoruso led all hitters with 16 kills and Chalmers had 10 for UCSB, which had a team average of .273.
Walmer dished out 36 sets and had three aces.
Hawai’i improved to 21-2 overall and 4-1 in the Big West while UCSB fell to 5-14, 1-5.
The teams play again tonight at Rob Gym.
