Men�s
Volleyball
UCSB
Losing Streak Hits Three
M Volleyball: CSUN Takes
Down Gauchos to Begin Five Game Homestand
By Tiffany Polfer
/ Staff Writer
Published
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
ADAM PEREZ / Daily Nexus
Junior
setter Max Klineman led the Gauchos with 41 assists,
but
The #14 UCSB men�s volleyball team lost its third consecutive
match, as visiting #8 Cal State Northridge defeated the Gauchos 3-1 this past
weekend by scores of 31-33, 30-28, 30-24, 30-24.
�Northridge is a team that plays with a lot of intensity,�
junior middle blocker Matt Thobe said. �And you need to mirror that attitude in
some respects in order to beat them.�
The Gauchos (1-5 overall, 0-3 in the Mountain Pacific Sports
Federation) were out-hit once again, as UCSB recorded a .163 average compared
to CSUN�s .278. Freshman opposite hitter Jeff Menzel, who was moved prior to the
game from outside hitter to opposite, had a career-high 24 kills. Senior middle
blocker Theo Brunner, who switched with Menzel from opposite, recorded 12
kills. Sophomore middle blocker Sam Moisenco led all
players with eight total blocks.
�Sam is doing a stellar job defensively at the net; a quick
look at his blocking stats makes that pretty clear,� Thobe said. �More than
that though, he brings an intensity and drive which other players can feed off
of. Jeff [Menzel] is an athletic specimen, but more than that, he is a natural
competitor and a team player who leads by example.�
Junior outside hitter Eric Vance also had a career night for
the Matadors (4-2, 2-1 MPSF), notching a career-high 26 kills while hitting at
a .400 attack percentage. Freshman middle blocker Cody Loe
was second on the Matadors with 11 kills and sophomore outside hitter Mike Gaudino rounded out the trio of double digit kills with 10.
In game one, both teams exchanged runs, with a grand total of
12 ties. At 29-28, the Gauchos were on the brink of game point, but the
Matadors evened it up with a kill by Loe, pushing the
game to extra points. Both teams would exchange points until a kill by Menzel
would lock it up for the Gauchos and send UCSB into game two with a 1-0 game
advantage.
�In game one, we spread the ball out pretty well and had an
effective middle attack,� Thobe said. �In the rest of the match, our offense
became a bit more predictable with Theo and Jeff getting 60 percent of the
sets.�
The Gauchos looked strong at the beginning of game two, going
on a 5-0 run to push the score to 5-1. But with Gaudino
at the serve line at 8-12, the Gauchos committed three straight attack errors
to allow the Matadors to come close at 11-12. However, the Matadors would give
the favor right back, committing three straight errors themselves at 24-28.
Nevertheless, Northridge was able to close out the game on a service error by
UCSB senior outside hitter Michael Fisher.
With the match tied up at one apiece, the Gauchos and
Matadors faced off in game three, and again UCSB opened up the game on a run,
but this time it was five straight ball mishandlings to give Northridge a quick
6-2 advantage. The Gauchos would tie the game up at 15-15, but the Matadors
steamed ahead to a 30-24 victory and match advantage. Northridge would continue
that momentum into game four and send the Gauchos winless into the night.
�In games two and three, we let Northridge get into a better
serving rhythm than in game one,� Thobe said. �That led to hitting errors, as
we tried to make aggressive swings in situations that were less than ideal.�
The Gauchos look to get back on track, continuing their five
game homestand with a match against Stanford this
Friday.