CSUN's Home Finale Spoiled in 3-0 Loss to UC Santa Barbara

Saturday, March 26

Northridge, Calif.

7:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

13-12, 6-12MPSF

UC Santa Barbara

15-9, 10-8MPSF

Team	1	2	3	Final F
UC Santa Barbara	25	25	25	3
CSUN	20	18	15	0

Photo by: Jeff Golden

CSUN's Home Finale Spoiled in 3-0 Loss to UC Santa Barbara

3/26/2016 9:53:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

NORTHRIDGE, CA - Looking to cap the home season with a victory as well as move closer to an MPSF Tournament berth, the CSUN men's volleyball was dealt a disappointing straight-set loss to No. 7 UC Santa Barbara Saturday in The Matadome.

Prior to the match, the Matadors (13-12, 6-12 MPSF) honored seniors Brian O'Gorman and Dan Starkey with Starkey winding up with a team-high nine kills. But the Matadors were out-hit .405 to .214 and rarely challenged the Gauchos (15-9, 10-8) outside of the opening set.

"It was disappointing to end the home season that way," said CSUN head coach Jeff Campbell. "You have to give credit to Santa Barbara, they served really well and kept us out of system almost the entire time. Their passing was pretty steady and we just weren't in a position to put any pressure on them passing-wise. I hope we'll be back at full strength next week and can play well on the road."

Making his first start since Jan. 20, Starkey hit a career-high .412 on 17 swings to go with four digs and two aces. Freshman Dimitar Kalchev added eight kills (.312) but was held without an ace in consecutive matches for the first time this season. Sophomore Josiah Byers chipped in six kills (.556) and two blocks but that was a majority of the CSUN offense.

CSUN looked good early in the first set as Starkey's kill gave the Matadors an 8-4 lead. Still trailing by four at 11-7, the visitors engineered an 8-1 run to erase the CSUN lead and open up a 15-12 lead. Another Starkey kill kept the Matadors within two (15-13) but CSUN would get no closer the remainder of the set and UCSB completed the comeback when Jacob Delson powered a kill off the Matador block on set point.

CSUN was forced to use both of its timeouts early in the second set after the Gauchos bolted to a 12-6 lead. Trailing by seven at 13-6, the Matadors went on a 4-1 run capped by a Byers kill to pull within 14-10. But a pair of Delson kill quickly pushed the lead back to three (17-10) and CSUN could not recover.

After UCSB scored nine of the first 12 points in the final set, CSUN rallied to get within three at 11-8. But two ensuing miscues by the Matadors pushed the lead back to five and the UCSB lead would not dip below five the rest of the way as the Gauchos closed out the 3-0 win.

Delson led all hitters with 13 kills (.375) while Henri Cherry added 10 kills on .750 hitting.

CSUN completes the regular season with four straight road matches beginning next Wednesday (Mar. 30) at Stanford.

#GoMatadors