Stacey Schmidt had 20 kills and hit a whopping .581 to lead the Gauchos past Georgia in the finale of the Pepperdine Asics Challenge on Saturday evening.
UCSB snapped a four-match losing streak with its 21-25, 25-15, 25-16, 25-20 victory over the Bulldogs. The Gauchos dropped a decision earlier in the day to Pepperdine, 13-25, 20-25, 21-25.
UCSB improves to 2-4 with the win over Georgia and finished the weekend 1-2.
Schmidt was one of three UCSB players to record double-digit kills with 13 coming from both Leah Sully and Kara Sherrard. Sully also finished with 16 digs for her fifth double-double in six matches this year.
Schmidt picked up a career-best 14 digs for the Gauchos, who hit .324 as a team, which was a season-best. She was named to the All-Tournament Team, marking her sixth straight all-tourney spot which dates back to last season. Schmidt also added a pair of service aces.
Lily Lopez had a season-best nine kills for UCSB and Jenna Wilson had eight kills and swung at a .727 clip. Wilson also added two solo blocks and two block assists. Setter Hanna Nielson had 54 assists for UCSB.
Santa Barbara tallied 70 digs, led by Chelsey Lowe who had 21. Erica Lauadded four off the bench while Sherrard had seven and Nielson added five. Nielson also had four of the Gauchos’ seven service aces.
UCSB will travel to the Santa Clara Tournament this weekend and does not have a home match until Sept. 30.
