Milan Rex and Ayva Ostovar were on point with their setting and the UC Santa Barbara hitters blasted 53 kills in a three-set sweep of Kansas State in the Gauchos’ home opener at the Thunderdome on Thursday.
Ostovar, a freshman out of Mater Dei, had 22 assists and Milan, a returning junior, dished out 20 in the 25-16, 25-23, 25-16 victory against a Big 12 team that suffered its first loss of the season
“That’s pretty nice,” said UCSB coach Matt Jones of the offensive performance. “That was an efficient night for us. I think we hit like .350. So, yeah, really, really clean match by the setters and just a good match overall.”
The good location of Milan and Ostovar’s sets led to a .352 hitting percentage for the Gauchos. Dynamic sophomore outside hitter Eva Travis led the attack with 18 kills on a .406 average and 18.5 points. Middles Layanna Green and Jordyn Johnson were on fire at the net. Green, a senior transfer from Northern Iowa, scored 12 points. She had 10 kills and only one error and hit .750. The freshman Johnson put down seven kills on a .583 hitting percentage. Freshman Gabi Martinez also had seven kills and hit .462.
The Gauchos had 53 kills to 31 for the Wildcats.
“We executed the scouting report,” said Jones. “The offense is really balanced, got production from a lot of places. We were able to use our depth a little bit. We got some people in and they did a nice job. I can’t complain.”
Senior Outside hitter Shaylee Myers carried the offense for Kansas State, putting up 15 kills on a .333 hitting percentage.
UCSB got rolling after Kiersten Schmitt scored on a tip to break an 11-all tie in the first set and start a four-point run. Johnson followed with one of her three blocks, Emma McDermott scored on a tip and Johnson delivered a kill for a 15-11 advantage.
The Gauchos continued to dominate, expanding their lead to 20-13 on kills from McDermott, Travis and a block by Green.
The second set was tighter. Green broke a 19-19 tie with a crushing kill off a Rex assist to give the Gauchos the lead for good. Travis ripped an Ostovar set, Ostovar followed with a service ace and Kansas State was called for a back-row attack violation to give UCSB a 23-19 advantage.
Myers rallied the Wildcats, who knotted the score at 23. But the Gauchos regrouped after a timeout and scored the final two points on an Ostovar back set to Green and a combination block by Green and Schmitt.
UCSB never trailed in the third set.
The win over Kansas State (4-1) was UCSB’s first against a program from a power conference this season. Last weekend, the Gauchos lost in five against USC of the Big 10. They are now 4-2 on the season.
On Friday, they’ll face an SEC team in Vanderbilt in their second match of the Thunderdome Classic
“We want to challenge ourselves,” said Jones. “We need to be competing in a non-conference schedule that gives us a chance at an at-large bid (to the NCAA Tournament), right? And so, to do that, we need to play a combination of strong teams in the top 50 in the country, approximately. And then we need to play teams that we expect to go win a lot of matches in their conference. That’s kind of the magic combination you’re looking for. So, yeah, K-State is just a great challenge for our group. And, if we can play a bunch of teams who have physicality in non-conference, it prepares us for the Big West.”
