The No. 3 seed UCSB men’s volleyball team began its Big West Tournament title defense on Thursday at Hawaii’s Stan Sheriff Center, taking down No. 6 CSUN in a sweep for the third time this season, 25-19, 26-24, 26-24.
The Gauchos (19-8) will now move on to tomorrow’s semifinal matchup against tournament host No. 2 Hawaii at 10:30 p.m. PT looking to claim their fourth consecutive Big West Tournament win dating back to last year.
UCSB earned its 10th sweep of the year, tied for its most since 2016. Despite only going three sets, the team effort saw three Gauchos reach double-figures in kills, a feat they hadn’t accomplished during the regular season.
Junior opposite Haotian Xia continued to show off some of the best form of his collegiate career, setting a new career-high with 4.67 kills per set on a match-leading 14 kills (.344).
Santa Barbara’s outside hitters were sharp as usual. Junior Ryan Wilcox tallied five kills on his first five attempts of the night, ending up with 10 (.286). Dayne Chalmers finished with 10 kills as well while tying for a match-best with three blocks.
Junior middle blocker Brandon Hicks came up big on both sides of the ball with six kills (.455), also matching fellow middle blocker Donovan Todorov with three blocks of their own.
Big West All-Freshman Max Gordon was solid at libero once again, going for eight digs. His five career 7+ dig matches have all come in the Gauchos’ last five contests.
Sophomore setter Patrick Paragas enjoyed another stellar all-around performance with 36 assists (12 Ast/Set), tying his all-time best.
UCSB’s offense set the tone right from the outset, as the Gauchos went on to outhit CSUN .481 to .226 in the opening set.
Wilcox was a perfect 5-for-5 and Xia went for five kills (.400) of his own, leading UCSB to multiple nine-point leads.
The Matadors (6-16) made a late run, but Xia cleaned things up with the final kill to win it 25-19.
Game two nearly slipped away from the Gauchos. It was the only time in nine sets this season that the Matadors outhit UCSB, .314 to .300.
CSUN broke out of an 11-11 tie to take a commanding 20-15 lead. Santa Barbara fired back with four consecutive points, all of which included a scoring contribution from Xia.
The Gauchos finally tied it at 21-21 on a huge Xia ace. They then capped an 8-1 run with kills from Chalmers and Hicks.
The Matadors survived a pair of set points, but leading 25-24, Sam Collins entered the match for the first time and sent the teams to set three with a sweet ace, 26-24.
Set three was the closest of the night, with neither team taking more than a three-point lead. After numerous ties, the Gauchos finally jumped in front when Xia put away yet another one to make it 18-17.
Momentum swung back-and-forth, but a timely 3-0 run capped by a Hicks and Chalmers block made it 22-20 in favor of UCSB.
Wilcox made it 25-24, and for the second straight time with that identical score, Collins entered off the bench to seal the deal with an ace served cold.
Michael Jorgenson writes about sports for UCSB.
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