The No. 14 UC Santa Barbara men’s volleyball team ended its longest road swing of the season on a down note, losing 3-0 at 12th-ranked MPSF rival Hawaii Friday in front of 2,348 at the Stan Sheriff Center. Jeff Menzel had a match-high 21 kills but it wasn’t enough as the Gauchos fell by scores of 30-25, 30-23, and 30-23.
UCSB dropped to 5-12 overall and 3-11 in the MPSF, while Hawaii improved to 4-11 and 3-9. The Warriors avenged Thursday’s 3-1 Santa Barbara win as the program picked up its 500th victory in school history.
Hawaii out-hit UCSB .294 to .175 and held a solid 14.5 to 4.0 advantage in blocks.
UCSB’s middle blockers had a decent night as Scott Slaughter had nine kills and hit .444 (9-1-18) and Sam Moisenco had four kills with a .364 (4-0-11) attack percentage. LiberoAndy McGuire had a match-high 13 digs.
Hawaii was paced by Joshua Walker with 17 kills. Sean Carney and Steven Grgas each had 10 kills while Grgas and Matt Rawson had seven blocks apiece.
Up next for the Gauchos will be a non-conference tilt against George Mason on Mar. 11 (7 p.m.). The next MPSF match is against UCLA on Friday, Mar. 13 (7 p.m.). This will be a Santa Barbara News-Press Kids to College match and all youths eighth grade and under will be admitted free.
