LONG BEACH – Behind 20 kills from senior outside hitter Kevin Donohue and a season-best performance at the net, No. 8 UC Santa Barbara landed an important 3-1 win away from home over No. 11 Long Beach State on Friday night at the Walter Pyramid.
Set scores for the match went 25-20, 23-25, 25-23, 25-22. It was the first road win of the season in four attempts for the Gauchos, who improved to 7-5 with a 3-5 mark in MPSF conference play. Long Beach State dropped to 7-4, 4-4.
Donohue, who entered the week as the leading kills-getter in the conference, tied a season-high with his 20 kills, which co-led all players on the floor. “Donny” performed well with an expanded role in the offense, as he took a season-high 52 swings on the night.
Junior middle blocker Ryan Hardy also had arguably his best statistical match of the season, recording personal season highs in kills (10) and blocks (nine). Hardy and senior middle Jake Staahl (seven roofs) were at the forefront of a UCSB net-front effort that outblocked the 49ers 18-10. It was a season-high for the team in blocks and the first time they recorded that many stuffs in a four-set match since Jan. 30, 2014.
Junior setter Jonah Seif had a nice rebound performance, picking up his second double-double of the season after matching his career high of 13 digs while recording 42 assists. Freshman libero Hayden Boehle reached double-digit figures for the second time this season with his dozen digs.
UCSB’s advantage at the net was at its most pronounced in the first game, as the Gauchos fought off an early deficit with a block party that won the stanza easily. Down 3-7, Staahl teamed up with sophomore outside hitter Jacob Delson then senior outside hitter Weston Nielsen for double-blocks on consecutive plays, jump-starting an 8-2 run that featured a triple-block and kills from Hardy, Donohue, Delson, and Staahl.
After allowing a Taylor Gregory kill that brought the score to 11-10 in UCSB’s favor, the Gauchos ripped off another run, getting three more blocks and pair of Donohue kills en route to winning eight of the next 10 points to go ahead 19-12. Eventually, LBSU’s Zach Gates served long on set-point to give UCSB a 1-0 advantage.
The second game was a see-saw affair throughout, but at 20-20 the 49ers grabbed three consecutive points off kills from Cody Martin and John La Rusch as well as an ace from Martin and that proved decisive, as an Andrew Whitt kill points later evened the match at one set apiece.
Once again in the third, the teams battled back and forth, with an early four-point UCSB lead turning into a three-point advantage for Long Beach State at 16-13. A 4-1 Gauchos run from there – with another block, this time from Staahl and Nielsen – evened the score and set up a dramatic stretch run. After trading a few points, back-to-back kills from Donohue put the Gauchos up 23-20 and forced LBSU to use their final timeout. That gambit proved fruitless, with Donohue slamming another one to put UCSB back ahead 2-1 on sets.
Two consecutive aces from Delson early in the fourth – he had two of the team’s three aces on the night – rescued the Gauchos from a small deficit and set them up with momentum in the decisive game. Some fine serving from Staahl later in the game led to an attacking error and a bad set from the 49ers on consecutive plays, resulting in an 18-16 UCSB advantage.
Long Beach recovered from there to salvage a 21-21 tie, but the Gauchos slammed their foot on the pedal from that point, with Nielsen bookending a Staahl quick strike with two kills of his own, including the match-winner.
