No. 6 UCSB men’s volleyball was swept at home by No. 3 Long Beach State Saturday night 25-21, 26-24, 25-22.
This is the first time since dropping two matches to start the season that the Gauchos have been beaten in back-to-back games.
Ryan Wilcox led the Gauchos with 10 kills, and Geste Bianchi added eight. Each of them had five digs as well.
Dayne Chalmers paced UCSB with eight digs, and Patrick Paragas had 32 assists, all three aces and three blocks.
The Gauchos were outhit .350 to .263, and The Beach was strong at the net, sending down nine team blocks to UCSB’s 5.5.
The first set saw the Gauchos swing an impressive .517 clip while converting on 75% of their sideout opportunities, but LBSU was even better hitting a .586 and converting 19-of-22 (86%) of its sideout chances. The two teams went back and forth early until The Beach found a 5-0 run that put them up 13-10. They never surrendered the lead after that.
The second frame was neck and neck throughout with the teams trading points through the early going. The Gauchos led by as many as three at 18-15, but LBSU clawed its way back to ice it at 20-20. UCSB battled off a set-point to force extras, but a service error followed by a Beach kill sucked the air out of the gym giving Long Beach the 26-24 win.
The third and final set saw 10 ties but just one lead change as UCSB led early until giving away the lead at 12-11. The two teams nearly went tit-for-tat on 16 straight plays, trading sideouts until they met at 19 apiece. From there, LBSU closed the match on a 6-3 run.
Next on the dockett is the away edition of the Gauchos’ home-and-home series with UC Irvine at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Senior night is set for Friday at Rob Gym when the Gauchos welcome the Anteaters at 7 p.m.
Daniel Moebus-Bowles writes about sports for UCSB.
email: sports@newspress.com
