Men’s volleyball travels to Santa Barbara to take on UCSB

After splitting with the defending Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference champions, the men’s volleyball team will hit the road today to take on UC Santa Barbara.

The No. 3 Trojans (9-2, 8-2 MPSF) began last weekend with a gutty five-set win over BYU, but then fell to the Cougars the following day in four sets. The No. 5 Cougars (9-3, 8-2) came into the matchup tied for first place in the MPSF standings with USC. Though BYU has the head-to-head set advantage, the Trojans and the Cougars remain tied atop the standings. No. 4 UC Irvine (13-3, 8-2)  is also tied at the top of the conference standings, though USC defeated the Anteaters in five sets earlier this season.

On Thursday, Feb. 12, the Trojans beat BYU by a score of 20-25, 21-25, 25-16, 25-23, 16-14. Junior outside hitter Alex Slaught led the team with 24 kills with freshman outside hitter Larry Tuileta adding 15 kills off the bench.

It was the third match in a row to go five sets for the Trojans, with both of the Trojans’ matches against Hawai’i going the maximum. The Trojans split the two matches against Hawai’i, with both going to five sets and both fifth sets requiring more than 15 points to win. The Trojans have won four matches this year in five sets, but this was the first time the Trojans had come back to win the last three sets.

On Friday, the Trojans were unable to find the same magic for a comeback, losing 25-20, 25-19, 23-25, 25-19. Though it looked like the Trojans had a chance for another crazy five-set comeback after the third set, they ultimately dropped their first match of the season at home.

Slaught led the team again in kills with 19. Senior setter Micah Christenson led the team with eight digs. After serving for 11 service aces the night before, the Trojans only recorded two in the loss.

Last year, the Cougars were regular season and postseason champions of the MPSF. The Trojans finished eighth in the MPSF during the regular season and were then knocked out by the  one-seeded Cougars in the first round of the MPSF tournament. BYU went on to win the tournament to claim an automatic spot in the NCAA national championship tournament.

After the defeat, coach Bill Ferguson said the Cougars’ blocking game proved to be the difference, adding that BYU served very well, and the Trojans did not pass as well.

“They were just great blocking the ball and we weren’t passing as crisply,” he said. “Against their block, you have to be in a system to generate some offense and we just couldn’t do it tonight.”

Ferguson said the match was the end of long stretch given the long distance traveling to Hawaii and the back-to-back games against BYU.

“They fought,” he said. “They never gave up. I’m proud of them for that, but [with] the last two weeks, we’re pretty exhausted after these last three in a row. We have to get a little rest, hit the video room and get better.”

No. 8 UC Santa Barbara (8-5, 4-5) sits in seventh place out of 12 teams in the MPSF. The Gauchos have also split with BYU, but dropped both matches at Hawaii. The Gauchos have also fallen to Cal State Northridge and Pepperdine — both of whom the Trojans defeated — but have beaten UCLA, Long Beach State and Stanford.

Ferguson said the key for the team going into Santa Barbara was to do better at reading when to send blockers to the front of the net instead of keeping players in the back court to pass.

“Working off of it, we’ve got to block a little bit better from a read situation,” he sad. “We’re pretty good when we throw commits in there. It’s the equivalent of like football and blitzing; you can blitz all the time but something’s going to be wide open if you do that. That will be something that we have got to do a little bit better against Santa Barbara.”

The Trojans take on the Gauchos at 7 p.m. tonight.