Besides having several of the nation’s top collegiate men’s volleyball teams competing in one place for a weekend, the annual Gaucho Invitational acts as a homecoming for former prep stars.
Three former Santa Barbara High All-CIF players are returning to town for the 47th annual tournament: Carson Clark and Will Montgomery of UC Irvine and Jeremy Casebeer of UCLA.
Casebeer is a 6-4 junior outside hitter for the Bruins.
Montgomery is a 6-2 sophomore outside hitter and Clark a 6-5 junior opposite for UC Irvine. Clark enters the college season after playing with the U.S. National Team at the World Championships at the Pan Am Games, where he won a gold medal.
UCSB is led by San Marcos grad Jeff Menzel, the team leader in kills last season with 530. He is one of seven seniors on the Gaucho roster.
All eight teams in the tournament open play at 10 a.m. Friday. UCSB plays Cal State Northridge in Rob Gym. The other first-round matches will be played at the Thunderdome. They are: UCLA vs. UC San Diego, BYU vs. Cal Baptist and Long Beach State vs. UC Irvine.
The next round will be played at 7:30. UCSB’s match will be in Rob Gym.
All four placement matches on Saturday are scheduled at Rob Gym, beginning at 11 a.m. The championship match is at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets are $15 for an all-sessions pass, $12 for seniors and $8 for youth 8th grade and under. Single day passes are $10, $8 and $5.
