Senior Theo Brunner put away a career-high 26 kills, but it wasn’t enough as the No. 12 UCSB men’s volleyball team lost in five games at No. 2 Long Beach State on Saturday. The Gauchos came back from two games down, but couldn’t put the match away.

Game scores were 30-27, 30-28, 28-30, 25-30 and 15-13. UCSB, which has lost three straight, fell to 7-10 overall and 5-8 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Long Beach State improved to 13-2 and 9-2.

In game five, the Gauchos scored three consecutive points on a Mike Runkle kill, a block and a Cullen Irons ace to take a 12-9 lead. However, the 49ers came right back with three scores of their own on a Paul Lotman kill and a pair of UCSB attack errors. Brunner put UCSB up 13-12 with his final kill of the match, but Long Beach reeled off three-straight points to secure the victory. A kill by Dan Alexander evened the game at 13-13 and an ace by Lotman gave Long Beach its first lead of the game. A Gauchos hitting error put an end to the match.

Brunner’s 26 kills eclipsed his previous career high of 25, set this season against Hawai’i. The middle blocker also set a new career best with 28.5 points as he added three blocks — two solos and one assisted.

Jeff Menzel, a freshman opposite from San Marcos High, had 22 kills, six digs, three blocks and 24.5 points. Vince Devany, another true freshman, amassed a career high 60 assists from the setter position. Senior Ben Brockman had a match high 16 digs.

For Long Beach, Dean Bittner had 24 kills and Lotman followed with 20. The 49ers out-blocked the Gauchos, 14-9, as Tommy Pestolesi had seven blocks and Alexander six.

UCSB out-hit Long Beach, .286 (70-30-140) to .240 (62-27-146), and also held a 48-32 advantage in digs.

The Gauchos held leads in all five games.

Game one was tied at 26-26 before Long Beach rattled off three-straight points to go up, 29-26. Following a Long Beach service error, the Gauchos committed one of their own to give the set to the 49ers.

Game two was close throughout and featured 16 tie scores. Down 28-27, the 49ers would again go on a three-point run to win the game.

The Gauchos led by as many as seven points in game three. They hit a match-high .444 (21-5-36) in the set. Long Beach State was stubborn and came back to knot the game at 28 apiece. Matt Thobe came up with a big kill and a hitting error by the 49ers gave UCSB the 30-28 win and the momentum.

Game four saw UCSB jump out to 14-8 and 26-19 leads before finally winning, 30-25. Long Beach hit just .167 (11-6-30) in the game.

The Gauchos conclude their season-long four match road swing Wednesday at Cal State Northridge.

Scott Flanders is UCSB‘s associate media relations director.