The UC Santa Barbara Women's Volleyball team (6-10) had a quick turnaround as they returned to The Thunderdome to take on the UC Davis Aggies.
Even though the Gauchos did everything they could to battle against this tough UC Davis team, the Aggies were the ones to leave The Thunderdome with the win as the Gauchos lost in four sets with scores of 14-25, 25-21, 18-25 and 22-25.
"UC Davis is a team that is playing really well right now. But as in-sync and fluid as our offense was last night, we had a complete 180 tonight," UCSB head coach Matt Jones said. "It's a combination of factors, but we just needed to be better in all facets on offense. We made things too easy for them. It's a night we have to learn from."
UC Santa Barbara had a very slow start in this match. UC Davis came out strong, going on a three-point run to take the early lead.
From there, the Aggies would side out immediately while the Gauchos struggled to reciprocate, resulting in the visiting team growing their lead even more.
By the time the final whistle blew, the Aggies were up by 11 as the Gauchos dropped the first set with a score of 25-14.
The second set told a different story for the Gauchos as a kill from Andi Kreiling sparked a fire amongst her team. UC Santa Barbara battled back against UC Davis, exchanging the lead four times in this set before a winner was decided.
With the help of Michelle Zhao from the service line again this evening, the Gauchos pushed ahead of the Aggies to take the second set with a score of 25-21.
The third set told a similar story to the first for UC Santa Barbara. Even though Harper Hall started this set off with an ace, the Aggies fought back quickly to take the lead.
The Gauchos were only behind by two points until one of Aggies' servers went on a nine-point run. This locked in the third set for the visiting team as UC Santa Barbara dropped this one with a score of 25-18.
The Gauchos did not want to go down without a fight as they came back fighting in this fourth set. They went point-for-point with the Aggies throughout most of this set.
But at the end of this set, it was UC Davis who made the final push UC Santa Barbara dropped this fourth and final set with a score of 25-22.
Sophie Reavis led the Gauchos on offense today as she finished the match with 12 kills. Along with that, she was tied for the most aces on the team with two while also adding on seven digs.
Emma McDermott was the only other Gaucho to earn double-digit kills, notching 10.
Cortni Youngblood was the biggest threat in the back row for the Gauchos. She finished this match with 11 digs.
Layanna Green made the biggest impact for UC Santa Barbara when it came to front row defense. She ended the night with three blocks, one of which was a solo block.
The Gauchos will have the week to prepare before they hit the road to take on Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine. The first match of the weekend will take place on Friday, Oct. 11 in Titan Gym.
The following day, the Gauchos will make their way to the Bren Center to take on the UC Irvine Anteaters. Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+.