The UC Santa Barbara Men’s Volleyball team (6-10) hit the road for another non-conference match as they took on the Concordia University Irvine Golden Eagles.
It took all five sets to decide a winner, and it was the Gauchos as they took down the Golden Eagles 26-24, 17-25, 22-25, 25-17 and 15-11.
“It’s always good to find a way to win in the fifth set,” UCSB head coach Rick McLaughlin said. “We’ve been on the other side of that a handful of times this year and I think it helped us push a bit harder tonight. We have to try to keep this level of play against Charleston on Saturday.”
The Gauchos came out strong in the first set, taking a three-point lead thanks to a service run from Ben Coordt. The Blue and Gold continued to build on that lead before Concordia Irvine started to rally.
The home team managed to tie the score at 24’s, resulting in this first set going into extra points. It didn’t last for long as a Golden Eagle service error and an ace from Geste Bianchi gave the Gauchos the 26-24 win in the first set.
The next two sets didn’t go in favor of the Gauchos. UC Santa Barbara hurt themselves with their own errors in the second set, contributing almost as many attack errors as the Eagles earned in kills.
This caused the Gauchos to drop the second set 17-15. The third set was tied up 12 times before someone could pull ahead. Unfortunately for the Gauchos, it was Concordia Irvine as UC Santa Barbara dropped the third set 22-25.
The Gauchos now had to battle in hopes of coming home with a win. With the help of Owen Loncar, UC Santa Barbara put themselves in a good spot.
He went on a four-point service run early on that put the Blue and Gold in a good spot. They continued to build on that lead from there as they came out of the fourth set with the 25-17 win.
Once the fifth set began, the two teams went back and forth as they both wanted to end the match with a win. However, it was UC Santa Barbara who ended up on top.
Jack Walmer’s back-to-back aces gave his team the advantage they needed in order to come out with this match as they secured the fifth set 15-11.
Geste Bianchi led all players on the court in kills with 23. To go along with that, he added on six digs, five blocks and two aces.
Ben Coordt was next up in kills as he finished the match with 13 while hitting at a .310 clip. He also finished the night with six digs and three blocks.
Owen Loncar had a phenomenal night on defense, putting up 11 blocks. He also hit at a .333 clip, recording six kills and only one error on 15 swings.
The Gauchos will return to Rob Gymnasium this Saturday, March 2, as they take on the Golden Eagles of Charleston. First serve will be at 6 p.m. with a live stream available through ESPN+.