When Dana Vargas is handing out sweet sets and Rebecca Saraceno is in a groove hitting, all is well with the UCSB women’s volleyball team.
UCSB's Leah Sully pokes the ball across the net
That’s how things went Wednesday night as Saraceno put down a season-tying high 24 kills, Vargas dished out 50 assists and the Gauchos won the big points down the stretch of games to post a 25-17, 22-25, 25-23, 25-23 nonconference victory over Santa Clara in their official home debut at the Thunderdome.
UCSB WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL TEAM PAGE
“I like that we played the big points tough,” UCSB coach Kathy Gregory said. “We could have easily gone down two games to one and had to come back, but we didn’t get tight. When we played Oregon State (a four-game loss), we got tight when we played the big points. That was the big key (tonight). We never quit and we found a way to win.”
That display of Gaucho grit was evident in games three and four. In Game 3, former Dos Pueblos star Kim Courtney of Santa Clara picked up a Gaucho dink (one of her 24 digs in her second match at libero) and the Broncos converted it with a Krista Kelley kill to take a 23-21 lead. Vargas responded for UCSB with a dump off the block and then set Saraceno, who drew blockers into the net to tie the score at 23-23.
On the next play, Santa Clara’s Lindsy Davigeadono crushed a ball down the line, but the officials got together and ruled that it passed outside the antenna and that gave the go-ahead point to UCSB. Lily Lopez and Vargas combined on a block for the winning point.
UCSB's Chelsey Lowe yells out to teammates
The fourth game also was tight down the stretch. But the Gauchos (6-2) delivered in crunch time. A Saraceno blast put them up 23-21 and Stacey Schmidt buried a middle set from Vargas for a two-point advantage. Santa Clara got one point back before Schmidt finished things off with a cut shot off the block.
“It was really good for us to learn how to win those close games cause in the past we’ve had a hard time with that,” Vargas said. “Those two-point games are huge for us.”
Asked about her propensity to feed Saraceno, Vargas said, “We can’t go away from Becca. She touches the ball on almost every rally. There’s no way we’re going to beat a team without her. She’s that important.”
“Dana Vargas, she’s unbelievable,” Gregory raved. “She finds a way to win. She’s so improved, she’s just a fiery kind of setter who has that will. She willed us to win that game.”
Saraceno is delighted to see Vargas take command of the offense and feed her a lot of balls.
“She’s been spot-on under pressure during this entire preseason, and I’m so thankful to have her on our team. She’s been great,” said the senior outside hitter.
Like the rest of the team, Saraceno started slow but stepped up her play in Game 3.
Lily Lopez is about to unleash a kill against Santa Clara
“My serving was bad and I think our passing could have been a little better, but after the break in the second game it was crunch time and we were determined, and it worked out really well,” said Saraceno, who hit .340 for the match, including a facial spike on a Santa Clara defender after a Gaucho took one in the face.
“It was good to get revenge,” she said.
Saraceno said she welcomes the heavy workload.
“I am a senior and I’m the oldest one on the team, so I want to have that responsibility and I want my team to have that trust in me and I want to be able to give it to them.”
“She has to be the workhorse,” said Gregory of Saraceno. “I’m asking her to do more than what anybody else is doing.”
Schmidt and freshman Leah Sully added 10 kills apiece for the Gauchos while Lopez added nine.
Santa Clara (5-4) was led by Davigeadono with 14 kills and Kelley with 10.
Broncos’ coach Jon Wallace, a former UCSB star in the late 1980s, said his team’s play was inconsistent
“At times, I was OK with it and at times we gave Santa Barbara too many easy points and too many easy opportunities,” he said. “At the end, we just weren’t tough enough to close out Game 3. They played well, they applied setting pressure. We just couldn’t get over the hump and outperform them.”
