Dyer and Cervantes strong, but Fisher, Menzel end up winners

BLAKE DORFMAN, NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

February 2, 2008 12:00 AM

Charger, Royal, Don, Don.

It didn't really matter what jersey they had on.

The biggest crowd of the year showed up at Rob Gym Friday night to support four local products as they squared off in a rowdy men's volleyball match.

Fittingly, it ended up a classic.

UCSB notched a 29-31, 30-26, 25-30, 30-21, 15-13 victory over visiting Hawaii that left a bunch of bitten-off fingernails in the bleachers and had many Gaucho fans storming the court in celebration.

San Marcos alumnus and Gaucho freshman Jeff Menzel had what has become a typical performance in the early stages of his college career -- a little erratic, but filled with plenty of big kills that left some jaws dropped. Menzel hit for a .036 average on the night, but the youngster again carried most of the Gaucho load, nabbing 18 kills on 56 sets.

Then there was Dos Pueblos graduate Brennon Dyer, who came into the match not knowing if he would even get any playing time. To the delight of friends and family, he played most of the match and was rock solid, putting away seven kills and two aces while getting in on six block assists. Dyer even got to stuff Menzel on back-to-back plays in the third game.� Menzel was not surprised by Dyer's strong performance.

"I'm surprised he didn't play more ," said Menzel. "I've known Brennon a long time, and he's got a heavy arm. He played a good match."

Warrior libero Ric Cervantes, of Santa Barbara High fame, garnered as much vocal support as any player in the gym and notched 16 digs while showing considerable poise and leadership for a sophomore.

"Brennon and Ricky both played outstanding tonight. They played really well," said Gaucho coach Ken Preston.

Ex-Don Michael Fisher, a UCSB senior, played the role of wise old man -- he even helped coach Dyer and Cervantes' high school club team -- and got the start in front of the home crowd. "Fish" had an off-night, hitting for a -.036 clip and eight kills, but still shoveled 10 digs against his old prot�g�s.

Dons coach Chad Arneson even got on the court, filling in as a line judge for the match.

"It's just great to see them out on the court representing our community, and it was great to see how much support the community gave them," said Arneson.

But there were some other stories that developed for the Gauchos (3-6, 2-4 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) on the night, most notably breakout performances by Mike Runkle and Scott Slaughter.

Preston no doubt had some of the best sleep of his life Friday night as Runkle, a backup setter, came in at outside hitter and proved that he is more than ready to bring some desperately needed consistency on the left side. The 6-2 junior was on fire, hitting .562 with 10 kills, seven digs and four block assists, playing with an all-around consistency that was reminiscent of Bryan Berman, one of UCSB's most steady left-side contributors before graduating last year.

Freshman Slaughter, who was put in the game at the suggestion of fellow middle blocker Theo Brunner (21 kills, .462), put away seven of his nine attempts and blocked four, almost all coming on big plays in the final two games.

His side-by-side block with setter Max Klineman at match point finally won it exactly two hours and 30 minutes after play began.

For the Gauchos, it means a little less pressure on Menzel and a lot more options for Klineman.

Statistically, the match was baffling.

Hawaii (3-6, 2-4) embarrassed the Gauchos in blocking, notching 24 as a team to UCSB's 10.5. Overall, both teams were borderline pathetic offensively, as the Warriors' .157 hitting clip was just beaten out by UCSB's mark of .195.

Perhaps most bizarre, however, is how the Gauchos managed to win the second game while hitting .059 (Hawaii hit .020).

Consistency was not what determined the quality of the match, however.

"Just listening to Rob Gym tonight was awesome," said Dyer, who jokingly noted that his barely visible mustache was a key to his performance. "It doesn't even matter if they were yelling for us or against us. It was awesome."

What's more awesome is that first serve in the rematch is tonight at 7 p.m.