The type of ball, the scoring, the speed of play, the size of the players all have changed in collegiate men’s volleyball over the last 50 years.
One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is UCSB hosting a season-opening tournament. The Gauchos will stage their 50th annual UCSB Asics Invitational on Friday and Saturday at the Thunderdome and Rob Gym.
The tournament has gone through several formats over the years. This year, 10 teams will be divided into two pools and play round-robin, best-of-three sets on Friday at the Thunderdome. On Saturday, the teams will be paired up according to their placement in the pool: First place in Pool A plays the winner of Pool B; Pool A runner-up plays Pool B runner-up … Saturday’s matches — all at Rob Gym — will be best-of-five sets and count on the teams’ records.
UCSB is in Pool A with Stanford, Cal Baptist, Pacific, and Harvard. Pool B consists of Long Beach State, UCLA, Cal State Northridge, UC San Diego, and Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne.
The first wave of matches on Friday will take place at 10 a.m., with the second wave commencing at 3 p.m. after a lunch break. Saturday’s action begins at 10 a.m., and the championship match is slated for 8 p.m.
UCSB returns starters at each position, including sophomore All-MPSF setter Jonah Seif, middle blockers Jake Staahl and Ryan Thompson, libero Chad Kingi, and a deep stable of outsides with the likes of returners Austin Kingi, Evan Licht, Kevin Donohue, and Matt Marsh. Transfers Matt Hanley (UCLA) and Vaun Lennon (UCSD) are expected to make an impact.
The Gauchos are ranked No. 8 in the AVCA Preseason Poll. UCLA is ranked No. 2 behind defending national champion UC Irvine. Long Beach State is fourth.
A couple of former high school stars from the area will be playing in the tournament. Jonathan Bridgeman, of Santa Ynez, is a 6-7 senior opposite for UCLA. Former Dos Pueblos star Jackson Wopat is a 6-5 freshman middle for UC San Diego.
