The UCSB women’s volleyball team (18-8, 14-2) improved to 10-0 at home Saturday night, defeating Long Beach State (16-8, 11-5) in a pivotal match, 25-14, 25-21, 23-25, 25-19.
The Gauchos set a new season-high with 19 blocks in the match, led by Deni Wilson with 10 total including two solos to match her career-high. This helped the Gauchos hold Long Beach to a .143 hitting percentage. Wilson added an errorless 9-0-15 on the offensive end as well.
Michelle Ohwobete led the team with 13 kills on an efficient 13-2-35 line for a .314 clip. Her 12 digs gave her yet another double-double on the season.
Tasia Farmer added a 9-2-14 line for a .500 mark and Deni Wilson was errorless the match going 6-0-9 with eight blocks.
Macall Peed scooped up 19 digs to extend her streak to 18-straight games with 10-plus.
Briana McKnight had seven kills, eight digs, and a career-high six aces. Mehana Ma’a tallied 27 assists and nine digs.
UCSB led for the entirety of the first set, extending its lead to as much as 11 points on the final play, which was a block by Wilson and Tallulah Froley. Ohwobete had four kills on seven swings and the Gauchos hit .536 as a team.
The second frame saw Long Beach State jump out to a 10-5 lead that drew a Gauchos timeout, and out of the break UCSB quickly got back into it tying it up at 13-13. From there the team posted a 6-2 run that gave them enough cushion to take a 2-0 lead.
The Beach refused to swept taking the third set in just the second lost set of the season at home for the Gauchos.
The final set saw the Gauchos collect nine total blocks as Wilson went for six and Froley had four. It was back and forth until the end when UCSB closed the night out on a 7-3 run to seal it.
UCSB now heads out for its final road trip, playing UC Davis on Thursday and UC Riverside on Saturday.