The UCSB men’s volleyball team lost to host Stanford for the second time in two days Saturday, but pushed the Cardinal much harder this time before succumbing 20-25, 25-22, 24-26, 26-24, 15-12.
Gaucho sophomore opposite stepped up with a career-high 26 kills on a .373 clip, and added six blocks.
After Friday night’s Cardinal sweep, UCSB came out strong with a first-set win. The teams were neck-and-neck until senior outside hitter Ryan Wilcox closed the set with a service run for the 25-20 win.
The second set was a similar dogfight, with Stanford coming up with the strong finish to prevail 25-22.
The two teams split the next two sets by identical 26-24 scores, before the Cardinal closed out the match with a 15-12 fifth set.
Gaucho outside hitter Dayne Chalmers had a season-best 15 kills on only four errors, resulting in a .324 hitting percentage. Setter Jack Walmer set a new career high with 51 assists.
Wilcox, who has been a driving force for the Gauchos, finished the match with 11 kills, 13 digs, two blocks and two aces.
Middle blocker Dain Johnson finished with seven kills on a .617 percentage, adding a team-high eight blocks. Fellow middle blocker Donovan Todorov added six kills on a .417 percentage.
With the loss, the Gauchos drop to 1-4 on the season. They travel to Los Angeles to take on USC on Thursday and UCLA on Friday.