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, while setter Dana Vargas handed out 29 assists to go with nine digs.

UCSB dominated much of the match, which took 1 hour, 14 minutes. As a team, the Gauchos recorded 13.0 total blocks compared to just 2.0 for Manhattan. The Gauchos also hit .267 while the Jaspers swung at a .030 clip.

Santa Barbara was also helped by strong serving as the team had six service aces — with two coming from Sherrard and Chelsey Lowe, who also had a team-best 12 digs. Lowe added three assists, as did Santa Barbara High grad Mimi Cuttrell and freshman setter Lyana Perez.

The Gauchos open their home schedule on Monday with a 7 p.m. match vs. Cincinnati. The match will take place at Rob Gym.