A new era of UC Santa Barbara men’s volleyball began Friday as first-year head coach Rick McLaughlin led the 14th-ranked Gauchos to a 1-1 showing in the first day of action at the 45th Annual Elephant Bar Restaurant Collegiate Invitational at Robertson Gymnasium. McLaughlin won his inaugural UCSB match as the Gauchos topped Pacific, 3-1. In the second round, No. 5 Cal State Northridge defeated Santa Barbara, 3-1.
UCSB (1-1) will play in Saturday’s third/fourth place match against fourth-ranked Long Beach State at 4 p.m. The championship match, which is slated for 6:30 p.m., will feature Cal State Northridge against No.8 Stanford, which made the title match in 2008 as well.
Against Pacific, sophomore outside hitter Jeff Menzel led all players with 21 kills and 25.5 points. Opposite Jake Rosener followed with 16 kills and outside Trey Valbuena chipped in with 13. Sophomore setter Vince DeVany registered 58 assists and middle blocker Scott Slaughter had eight blocks. For the Tigers, Jason Borchin had 12 kills and Jeff Hendershot added 10. The Gauchos dropped in 15 service aces, four of those coming from Menzel. Pacific out-blocked UCSB 17.5 to 12 and out-hit its opponent .289 to .224.
In other first round matches, Northridge defeated UCLA, 3-1, Stanford blanked BYU, and Long Beach took out UC Irvine in three sets.
Menzel again proved to be the go-to man on the attack against Northridge as he posted a match-high 27 kills and 31.5 points. Middle Sam Moisenco had eight blocks while Menzel and libero Andy McGuire each posted seven digs. The Matadors had three players hit double figures in kills as Eric Vance had 19, Mike Gaudino totaled 15, and Tanner Nua added 11. Libero Ali’i Keohohou had a match-best 10 digs as CSUN out-hit UCSB .277 to .191. Nua and Vance each had four service aces.
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First Round Results – Friday, January 9, 1 p.m.
UC Santa Barbara 3, Pacific 1 (29-31, 30-28, 31-29, 30-25)
Cal State Northridge 3, UCLA 1 (24-30, 30-26, 30-18, 30-21)
Stanford 3, BYU 0 (30-25, 30-24, 30-18)
Long Beach State 3, UC Irvine 0 (30-28, 30-28, 30-25)
Second Round Results – Friday, January 9, 7 p.m.
Cal State Northridge 3, UC Santa Barbara 1 (30-28, 30-23, 28-30, 30-21)
Stanford 3, Long Beach State 1 (28-30, 30-27, 30-20, 30-28)
UCLA 3, Pacific 0 (30-25, 32-30, 30-26)
UC Irvine 3, BYU 1 (30-28, 32-30, 29-31, 30-27)
Final Round Match-Ups – Saturday, January 10
7th/8th place match (11 a.m.): BYU vs. Pacific
5th/6th place match (1:30 p.m.): UCLA vs. UC Irvine
3rd/4th place match (4 p.m.): UC Santa Barbara vs. Long Beach State
Championship match (6:30 p.m.): Cal State Northridge vs. Stanford
