Haotian Xia set the tone for the third-seeded UCSB men’s volleyball team in a sweep of CSUN in a Big West Tournament opener late Thursday night in Hawaii.
Xia went off for 14 kills on a .344 hitting percentage and had four blocks in 25-19, 26-24, 26-24 win SimpFI Arena.
The victory advances the Gauchos (19-8) to a semifinal clash against No. 2 Hawaii at 10:30 p.m. PDT. UCSB lost both regular season matches to the Rainbow Warriors in Honolulu a couple of weeks ago. The second match went five sets.
The outside attack racked up points for UCSB against the Matadors. Ryan Wilcox and Dayne Chalmers each had 10 kills, and Chalmers added three blocks.
In the middle, Brandon Hicks had six kills and three blocks, and Donovan Todorov turned back three Northridge attacks.
Freshman libero Max Gordon picked up eight digs and sopohomore setter Patrick Paragas dished out 36 assists, tying his career best.