Season ends for UCSB in women’s volleyball
RIVERSIDE, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara Women's Volleyball team (14-16) finished out their season at UC Riverside on Saturday afternoon with a 3-1 loss to the Highlanders.
FROM HEAD COACH MATT JONES
"We returned to some old habits tonight and failed to close out sets," said Jones. How we bounce back from this season and our winter training will say a lot about our character. Our whole staff would like to thank our seniors for all of their contributions to the program. We feel for them tonight."
HOW IT HAPPENED
The first set had the Gauchos struggling to get their feet under themselves. With the Gauchos down 6-4, Julia Shepherd made an impressive three kills for the Gauchos and one from Eva Travis to bring the match to eight-all. Santa Barbara pulled ahead by four into the back half of the first set, but the Highlanders caught up to tie the match 18-18. From there, miscommunication on the Santa Barbara side led to unfortunate errors and gave Highlanders the first set 25-20.
The Blue and Gold came out swinging in the second set led by Eva Travis. Impressive blocking by the Highlanders wouldn't let them get too far as they stayed on the Gauchos' heels 8-7. The Gaucho offense recorded consecutive kills from Travis, Andi Kreiling and Emma McDermott to pull ahead 15-11. Although the Highlanders looked to stay in the game with a pair of kills, the Gauchos went on a five-point run to bring the set to 20-13. The Highlanders would push back on offense going on a 9-2 run, including five kills, to tie the set up 22-22. The Gauchos would only notch one more kill before dropping the second set 25-23.
A critical third set started tied up at 5-5 after going point-for-point. That is when Santa Barbara found the offensive power they were searching for all match. A 9-1 run led by McDermott and Reavis with five kills combined also included aces from Reavis and Cortni Youngblood. After consecutive kills by Travis and Shepherd, the Highlanders went on a three-point run in an effort to repeat their second-set success. The Gauchos would stop the Highlander attack at 20-13 only allowing Riverside two more points before closing out the third set 25-15.
In the fourth set, the Highlanders built an early 7-4 lead capitalizing on Gaucho errors. Santa Barbara's offense found momentum to pull ahead 8-7. From there, it was a battle for the lead with no team pulling ahead by more than two points until the set was all tied up at 19-19. Despite two more kills by Shepherd and Reavis, Riverside would pull ahead to take the victory 25-21.
BY THE NUMBERS
Julia Shepherd had a career night with double-digit kills. She had only four errors on 25 attempts, hitting a .400 clip. She also recorded three block assists.
Sophie Reavis secured her sixth double-double of the season with 13 kills and 10 digs.
Emma McDermott contributed on both sides of the ball with a .316 hitting percentage and also two block assists on the night.
Harper Hall and Grace McIntosh were the setters for the Gauchos. McIntosh led with 23 assists while Hall was closely behind with 21 and also recorded nine digs.
IN CONCLUSION
UC Santa Barbara ends their 2024 season with a 14-16 overall and 10-8 in conference finishing seventh in The Big West. This was the first time since 2017 that the Gauchos did not finish in the top five of the final regular season standings.
(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics)
