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UCSB volleyball gets several Big West honors including Coach of the Year

ucsb gaucho gauchos uc santa barbara
Big West awards for UCSB volleyball

UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif.- The UC Santa Barbara men's volleyball team received a handful of accolades Monday afternoon when the Big West Conference announced its 2020 all-conference selections. Head coach Rick McLaughlin headlined the awards being dubbed the Big West Coach of the Year, and four Gaucho seniors were named to the all-conference teams.

Coach of the Year - Rick McLaughlin

In just the third season of Big West men's volleyball, McLaughlin becomes the second head coach to dawn the honor of Big West Coach of the Year. Despite the 2020 season coming to an early close, McLaughlin and the Gauchos saw an incredible run that featured a 14-2 record and an unbeaten 8-0 record at home. UCSB began the year on a perfect streak of 16 straight set wins and finished having won its last eight straight matches. The team made it as high as No. 3 in country posting eight wins over top-15 opponents and collecting 10 sweeps.

McLaughlin accomplished an incredible feat in leading a team that was efficient and disciplined on both sides of the floor this season. The Gauchos lead the nation in opponent hitting percentage and came in second in digs per set, while also being ranked top-5 in kills per set, hitting percentage, and assists per set. Their .875 winning percentage was good for fourth best in the country.

McLaughlin has now earned conference coach of the year honors three times picking up the MPSF Coach of the Year award in both 1998 and 2000 while at the helm of the Loyola Marymount men's program. He also holds a national recognition earning the title of ASICS/Volleyball Magazine National Coach of the Year in 2000.

FIRST TEAM ALL-BIG WEST

Randy DeWeese - Senior Opposite

Senior opposite Randy DeWeese was a dominant performer for UCSB despite making the change from the setter position during the offseason. His seamless transition helped the Gauchos offensively and was enough to earn him his first all-conference nod.

His 3.70 kills per set mark ranked 16th in the country landing 207 kills and he found new career-highs in nearly every category with the exception of assists. 

The Sacramento, Calif. Native was remarkable throughout the season but truly found his rhythm late in the non-conference slate going on a terror in the team's final slate of matches. In the team's last five matches, DeWeese tallied 76 kills for an average of 4.47 kills per set, broke his career-high in kills twice, set his career-high dig record, and earned back-to-back Big West Player of the Week Awards.

Casey McGarry - Senior Setter

Senior setter Casey McGarry was not short on the stat sheet this season, which lead to his first all-conference recognition. McGarry led the Big West in both assists per set (10.59) and digs per set (2.48) and ranked 4th and 6th in the country in those areas, respectively. He is the first Big West student-athlete to accomplish that feat.

In just 16 matches the Manhattan Beach, Calif. native matched his season-high in total assists (593) and set new personal marks in digs, blocks, points, and kills. He notched 30+ assists in all but one match despite 10 of the team's contests coming in three-set sweeps and found a season high 53 assists in a five-set loss to now top-ranked BYU. His career-high in digs came in the team's reverse sweep of No. 9 Penn State, where the Gaucho vet scooped up 20.

Keenan Sanders - Senior Middle Blocker

After earning a Big West All-Conference honorable mention in 2018, senior middle blocker Keenan Sanders returned to the spotlight once again in 2020 making his debut on the league's first team. 

Sanders was the face of efficiency all season long for the Gauchos proving to be a reliable source of offense at the net. The San Diego, Calif. native finished atop the Big West Conference and second in the country in hitting percentage posting a career-high .521 attack line with 113 kills. It took just 188 swings to accomplish that feat thanks to his career-low 15 errors, which paced the nation. He also saw his best mark defensively ending the season with a 1.05 blocks per set mark.

He eclipsed 10+ kills in four different matches and in each of those matches carried an attack percentage of .550 or higher. His season high of 12 kills came in the team's first sweeping of No. 6 Pepperdine where he landed a .563 hitting percentage and his most efficient match came in the team's first loss to BYU where he notched 10 kills on 14 swings with zero errors for a line of .714. He posted a season-high six block assists in the reverse sweeping of Penn State.

HONORABLE MENTION

Roy McFarland - Senior Outside Hitter

Senior Roy McFarland was a mainstay at the outside hitter position for the Gauchos appearing in 50 of the team's 56 sets this season and garnering a career-high 2.48 kills per set, which toppled his previous best of 1.94 in 2018. This improvement put him on the Big West radar and led him to his first all-conference award.

McFarland found improvements across the board setting new career-highs in attack percentage (.264), digs per set (1.58), blocks per set (0.56) and total blocks (28). His season-high came in the team's five set loss to BYU where he totaled 15 kills and he added 12 kills on three separate occassions and recorded a 12 kill, 10 dig double-double in its win over No. 15 Ohio State.

The Manhattan Beach, Calif. native finished second on the team in total kills (124), kills per set, and swings, and was fourth in total digs and digs per set.

Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics

Article Topic Follows: College Sports

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Mike Klan

Mike Klan is the sports director for News Channel 3-12. To learn more about Mike, click here.

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