Jan. 28, 2006
Santa Barbara, Calif.- The No. 9 UC Santa Barbara men's volleyball team (4-5 overall, 3-3 MPSF) swept Stanford (2-8, 1-5 MPSF) Saturday night at the Thunderdome, 30-27, 30-18, 30-19.
In the first game, Stanford jumped out to a 20-16 lead on the back of Ben Reddy, who led the Cardinal with 13 kills. From there, Santa Barbara went on a 7-1 run to take a 23-21 lead and the Gauchos never looked back. Two kills from Evan Patak, one kill from Bryan Berman and a finishing kill from Theo Brunner propelled the Gauchos to a game one victory.
In the second game, UCSB never trailed, though the teams fought to a 6-6 stalemate in the early goings. A 5-1 UCSB run separated the two teams as Stanford was plagued by two of its 12 service errors. Michael Fisher led the Gauchos in game two with six kills on nine attempts.
In the clinching game, UCSB broke a 10-10 tie with six straight points to push the lead to 16-10. UCSB pushed its lead to ten at 24-14 after a kill by Patak, allowing the Gauchos to cruise to a 30-19 game three victory.
Reddy added one service ace to his 13 kills on the night, and senior William Clayton notched 7 kills and 2 service aces. Senior Jeremy Jacobs and freshman Miki Groppi shared the setting duties, recording 16 and 11 assists, respectively. Patak led the way for the Gauchos, recording 17 kills on 27 total attacks for a .556 hitting percentage. Berman provided support for Patak, offering 13 kills on 18 attempts for a .667 hitting percentage.
Stanford will continue MPSF play against Pacific on Friday, February 3rd at 7:00 p.m. in Stockton, Calif.