Jake Rosener hit .455 (14-4-22) and added 13 digs for his first double-double of the season as the No. 10 UC Santa Barbara men’s volleyball team took down No. 13 UC San Diego in five sets Saturday night at RIMAC arena. Set scores were 28-30, 33-31, 30-21, 28-30, and 16-14 in favor of the Gauchos.
Jeff Menzel had 33 kills for UCSB (6-7, 6-4), one away from the career-high he set against Long Beach State on Friday, to go along with nine digs and a career-high 37.0 total points. Sam Moisenco connected on 13 of 17 swing attempts with only a single error for a season-high .706 hitting percentage. Blaine Nielsen hit a season-high .625 (11-1-16) with seven digs and a match-high three aces. Vince Devany had 70 assists.
For the Tritons (4-9, 1-7), Jason Spangler had 23 kills while Joel Davidson added 19 more. Andrew Kaban supplied a match-high 14 digs. Phil Bannan had 11 more digs while dishing out 66 total assists.
The Gauchos out-hit UCSD .367 (83-25-158) to .276 (76-28-174). UCSB matched its team-high for assists in a single match with 81.
After losing six of its first seven matches that extended to five sets earlier this season, UCSB is now 3-6 in matches that go the full distance. The Gauchos are now 5-1 on the road.
UCSB’s next match is at home, Wednesday, February 17th at 7 p.m. in Rob Gym vs. UCLA.
