The No. 4 UC Santa Barbara men’s volleyball team had just enough energy in the tank after playing four matches in three days to best No. 15 IPFW in a heated four-set showdown in the final match of the 51st annual UCSB Asics Invitational on Saturday night at Rob Gym.
Set scores for the match were 25-20, 24-26, 30-28, 26-24. Extra points were needed in three of the four sets, and at two hours and twenty minutes, the clash with the Mastodons (1-2) was longer than all of UCSB’s other matches in the tournament combined. With the victory, the Gauchos moved to 4-0 on the season and ended the tournament with an unbeaten 3-0 mark.
Saturday’s contest was also notable because it was the last apperance in Santa Barbara for IPFW hall-of-fame head coach Arnie Ball, who will be retiring at the end of the season after an illustrious 34-year career in Fort Wayne that saw him accrue almost 800 wins at the helm of both the men’s and women’s programs.
“We learned just enough as the match went along to stay on top,” said UCSB head coach Rick McLaughlin. “It was a good test because IPFW is a great team and they played well. We still have room to improve though and that’s what we’ll focus on as we head into conference play.”
Senior outside hitter Weston Nielsen had 18 kills to lead all players, while senior opposite Kevin Donohue had 14 of his own.
Freshman libero Hayden Boehle dove all over Rob Gym in racking up 16 digs, and junior setter Jonah Seif had 46 assists, just under an average of 12 per game.
UCSB’s middles, Jake Staahl and Ryan Hardy, teamed up for 15 kills, four aces, and 13 blocks assists. Jacob Delson put down another three aces, giving him a team-leading six on the season.
Though the first set was the only one to be decided by more than two points, UCSB did not seperate itself until late. Leading by just one at 17-16, the Gauchos then went on an 8-4 run, highligted by a powerful kill down the line from Donohue and a game-clinching quick hit from Hardy.
Things went quite the other way in the second set, as the Gauchos jumped out to an early lead that eventually turned into a battle of attrition with the Mastodons. Starting at 7-7, the teams would go on to produce 17 ties and seven lead changes throughout the remainder of the frame. The Gauchos would go on to lose the set in freak fashion – Staahl and Hardy moved to their right to block an Alex Harthaller swing on game point, but their putback bounced off Harthaller’s head and landed on the UCSB side of the net before any front row players could react.
The third stanza produced similar results to its immediate predecessor, as an early UCSB lead gave way to a point-for-point grudge match down the stretch. Nielsen proved himself to be the ultimate deciding factor in the set, as he recorded 11 kills. Most importantly, he recorded kills on the final two plays of the set. IPFW’s Ramon Burgos helped out the home team a bit on match point, as he went into the net trying to block Nielsen.
Somehow, the decisive fourth set retained just as much drama as the seemingly impossible-to-top second and third. Once again, a small bounce helped the Gauchos get over the hump and come out ahead in the tight race. Tied at 22-22, a muffed pass that was likely headed out of reach instead bounced off one of the suspended basketball backboards in the rafters of Rob Gym, falling to Nielsen who then set Donohue for a tip through the block.
Hardy then chipped in one of his team-leading four kills of the set to give UCSB its first shot at match point. Though they didn’t convert, a Donohue cross-court swing three points later set up another shot, and this time Staahl and Nielsen stuffed IPFW’s Andrew Sellan to conclude the dramatic battle.
The Mastodons were led by Sellan, who had a double-double with 17 kills and 10 digs, leading or co-leading his squad in both categories. Burgos was a thorn in the Gauchos’ side in more ways than one, punching in nine kills off 17 swings and pacing his team with five blocks.
At the end of the night, the match ended up featuring 44 ties and 17 lead changes.
