Jake Staahl crushes one for a Gaucho point in UCSB's morning match against Ohio State.
Miles Evans led UCSB with 19 kills in its second game of the Asics Invitational on Friday, helping the team defeat Northridge 20-15, 25-17, 25-20, 26-24 in Rob Gym.
UCSB Libero, Chad Kingi, digs a serve against Northridge.
“Miles carried us on the outside, had some great swings, and blocked a lot balls, great from the service line – he did it all,” said coach Rick McLaughlin.
Games one and two, Miles Evans was a major weapon at the net with a combined 12 kills for his team.
In the second, a scramble play was on the UCSB side until Miles Evans placed a roll shot over the block that gave them an 18-12 lead. Chris Hartig went up and crushed a ball off the face of a Northridge player who kept the ball in play only for Miles Evans to answer back with a kill. Evans ended the game with a kill from the back row 25-17.
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Northridge began the third game with a 7-0 lead until a missed serve after a timeout gave the ball back to the Gauchos.
“We came out of the timeout with our heads up, it didn’t really didn’t get to us at all, it actually helped us,” said Dylan Davis.
Oliver Deutschman dumped the ball straight down past the Northridge blockers for 10-13. A block from the outside gave the Gauchos 11-13, and an ace by Blaine Nielson brought them back into the game 12-13. UCSB came back to win 25-20.
Trailing in the last game, the Gauchos fought for every point. A block by Oliver Duetschman and Dylan Davis gave UCSB the momentum to push forward and a score of 17-19. With an ace and block from the outside they tied the game 23-23. A hitting error by a Northridge player would give the game and match to UCSB 26-24.
“DD is always going to be a monster, we gotta get him more balls, he is a true All-American monster,” said coach McLaughlin.
UCSB lost in five this morning to Ohio State, winning the first two and then losing the last three.
“We talked about getting on to the next play, and we dug ourselves out of some holes just by hanging in there, it’s a good sign for some young guys,” said coach McLaughlin.
“We knew we had to grind out point by point and play as a team,” said Miles Evans.
Miles Evans had 19 kills and 9 digs. Chris Hartig had 16 kills. Dylan Davis had 6 kills. Jake Staahl had 5 kills and 2 blocks.
The Gauchos continue play at the UCSB Invitational on Saturday against BYU. UCLA and UC Irvine play for the championship at 6 p.m. in Rob Gym.
