Tasia Farmer played a dominating match at the net to lead the UC Santa Barbara women’s volleyball team to a five-set win over host Utah on Friday at the Utah Invitational. The scores were 19-25, 25-22, 25-17, 17-25, 22-20.
Farmer blasted 14 kills and had seven blocks to lead a balanced attack as the Gauchos beat a Pac-12 program for the first time since 2019 (UCLA in 3) and posted their first win against Utah.
UCSB earlier beat USF in five sets, 25-20, 25-18, 25-21, 25-19, 17-15.
The Gauchos are now 7-1 on the season.
“We love the team’s ability to stay mentally engaged throughout the ups and downs of matches,” said coach Matt Jones of the marathon day. “The first match was a little bit ugly on both sides I thought, but we groveled and got it done despite not really finding a clean rhythm.
“The Utah match was a completely different story. There was really high-level volleyball on both sides and a good crowd, so it was a whole different kind of emotional wave. But we were able to stay steady and execute in big moments. Now, it’s important we get some rest and leave these behind as we move onto the next task ahead of us tomorrow.”
UCSB concludes the tournament against Tennessee State.
Michelle Ohwobete led the team with 15 kills and Sophie Reavis had 11. Middle Andi Kreiling led a solid blocking performance with nine and Briana McKnight added five.
Three players recorded double figures in digs, led by libero Peed Macall with 20. Ohwobete picked up 15 and McKnight had 13.
Lauren Jardine and Kamryn Gibadio led Utah’s attack with 20 and 17 kills, respectively.
In the fifth set, UCSB’s Michelle Zhao was serving for the match at 14-13, but Gibadio sided out for the Utes to send the set into overtime.
Utah had four match points in the set and UCSB two.
After Utah sided out to make it 20-20, the Gauchos took the lead on a service error and scored the match-winning point on a block by Kreiling and Farmer.
Against USF, Macall Peed had a double-double of 32 digs and 10 assists. Ohwobete put up her own double-doubles of 17 kills and 11 digs.