Gaucho spikers miss chance at first place

With a chance to move into a first-place tie in the Big West, the UC Santa Barbara women’s volleyball team saw that opportunity evaporate with a 23-25, 25-22, 25-18, 25-18 loss to Cal Poly on Saturday night at Mott Gym.
 
The Gauchos’ five-match winning streak was snapped and UCSB falls to 19-6 overall and 9-4 in the Big West. Cal Poly improves to 7-19, 3-10.
 
UCSB had a chance to move into a first-place tie in the Big West since UC Davis was swept at Long Beach State, which would have set up a nice showdown next week when the Gauchos and Aggies play each other in Davis. However, the Gauchos couldn’t seize the opportunity as they hit just .188 as a team.
 
Rebecca Saraceno led UCSB with 12 kills while Stacey Schmidt and Lily Lopez each had 10. Leah Sully added nine more and Kasey Kipp had six. Chelsey Lowe led UCSB with 15 digs as Saraceno had nine. Dana Vargas handed out 46 assists.
 
However, four Mustangs reached double-digits in kills as Cal Poly hit .326 as a team.
 
After improving the team’s blocking over the winning streak – which also saw the Gauchos win eight times in their past nine matches – the team managed just four blocks on Saturday. On the other hand, Cal Poly had four solo blocks and 17 block assists.