Gauchos out of sync in home debut

Maybe early season home matches aren’t to be for the UCSB women’s volleyball team.Playing a rare home date in August, the Gauchos struggled in several departments Monday night and fell to the Cincinnati Bearcats, 25-17, 25-20, 25-18, at Rob GymCincinnati, ranked 32nd in the AVCA preseason poll, showed the 33rd-ranked Gauchos why its ahead of them in the poll by putting on a blocking clinic, serving tough, and playing with fire.“That is a good team,” UCSB coach Kathy Gregory said. … [Read more...]

Warriors go unbeaten at Pt. Loma Invitational

Senior outside hitter Alison Sharp pounded 17 kills and posted a .433 hitting percentage to lead Westmont to a sweep of Missouri Baptist (25-17, 25-20, 25-17) in Saturday's first game at the Point Loma Nazarene Seaside Volleyball Invitational.The Warriors went on to shut out Robert Morris (Ill.) in the afternoon (25-21, 25-19, 25-22) to run their season record to 4-0. "Alison was playing great defense, passed the ball well and hammered the ball," reported Westmont head coach Jim Smoot. "It … [Read more...]

Gauchos overpower Manhattan in 3 sets

Redshirt freshman Kara Sherrard had nine kills and nine digs to help the UCSB women’s volleyball sweep Manhattan, 25-19, 25-9, 25-19, in its final match at the Cal Molten Tournament on Saturday.UCSB was swept by No. 11-ranked Cal in the opener on Friday.Charlene DeHoog led the UCSB attack with 11 kills, while also recording six digs and two solo blocks and two block assists. Stacey Schmidt recorded eight kills and seven block assists; Lily Lopez added seven kills and four block assists, … [Read more...]

Gauchos strikeout in Cal’s sweep

BERKELEY – The UCSB women’s volleyball team dropped its first match of the season, falling 25-18, 25-15, 28-26 to No. 11 Cal on Friday night. The defeat marked the first time the Gauchos dropped their season opener since the 2007 campaign.UCSB, which is receiving votes in the preseason AVCA Top-25 poll, was facing its highest-ranked opponent since matching up with No. 7 Stanford in 2008. The Gauchos will conclude play in the Cal Molten Classic on Saturday when the team takes on Manhattan … [Read more...]

Westmont doubles up in season’s first action

Westmont Volleyball head coach Jim Smoot had his first chance to see how is team looked in game-time situation on Friday, and the veteran coach liked what he saw."I think this is a good indication of where we stand," said Smoot about their performance in the Point Loma Nazarene Seaside Invitational. "From what I am seeing, we can hang with everyone in our conference - if we play up to our level."While several other Golden State Athletic Conference teams are participating in the event, the … [Read more...]

SBCC starts out at Pasadena Quad

Allyson Porter collected 17 kills in her first two college volleyball matches on Friday but SBCC dropped a pair of 3-1 decisions to Riverside and Pasadena at the Pasadena Quad. Riverside topped the Vaqueros 22-25, 25-13, 25-23, 25-18 while Pasadena beat the Vaqueros 20-25, 25-21, 25-11, 25-23.Porter, a 5-9 freshman from Lewisville, Colo,, had 10 kills against Riverside. Antonia Antes collected 15 kills on the day and Jenn Waddill had 13."It's early in the season and we're not passing at … [Read more...]

Gauchos in good hands with Vargas running attack

Honorable mention All-American setter Dana Vargas leads an experienced UCSB women’s volleyball team into its season opener this weekend at the Cal Molten Classic.The Gauchos kick things off Friday night against the No. 11-ranked Cal Bears and then play Manhattan on Saturday afternoon before returning to Santa Barbara for their earliest home opener in years.UCSB for the first time will face Cincinnati on Monday at 7 p.m. at Rob Gym.The Gauchos are coming off a 22-8 season that included … [Read more...]

Gauchos receive votes in pre-season poll

UCSB’s women’s volleyball team was among the top in the nation in the AVCA Coaches Poll released on Tuesday.The Gauchos, coming off a 22-8 season and a second-place finish in the Big West last year along with a berth in their 27th NCAA Tournament, were one of 25 schools receiving votes. The preseason poll has UCSB ranked No. 33 overall with 51 points.Long Beach State, picked by the Big West coaches to win the conference, finished 26th while UC Irvine, picked second by conference coaches, … [Read more...]

Coaches vote UCSB 3rd in volleyball poll

Led by returning first-team setter Dana Vargas and middle blocker Stacey Schmidt, the UCSB women’s volleyball team was picked to finish third in the conference in the Big West preseason poll.Long Beach State was tabbed to repeat as champion and UC Irvine was picked second.UCSB has five starters back from a team that went 22-8, finished second in the Big West with an 11-5 record and received an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament.Joining Vargas, a 2009 All-American, and Schmidt from … [Read more...]

Zakarian returns to SBCC as volleyball coach

City College has gone back to its recent past to find a men’s volleyball coach.Armen Zakarian, who played for the Vaqueros as recently as 2005, has been hired to take over the program guided by Melody Parker for the past 13 years,Zakarian played two seasons for Parker before continuing his collegiate career at UCSB, where he played as a libero in 2006 and an outside hitter in 2007.“I was ecstatic when Melody called and asked me to apply for the job,” said Zakarian. “She taught … [Read more...]