California Baptist University
7-18, 2-13MPSF
UC Santa Barbara
10-13, 5-10MPSF
Upsetting the Gauchos
3/30/2017 10:52:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — California Baptist University extended its winning streak to four matches with a thrilling 3-2 win over No. 15-ranked UC Santa Barbara (16-25, 20-25, 25-19, 25-20, 27-25).
It was the second longest match in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation history, improving the Lancers to 7-18 overall and 2-13 in conference. The Gauchos drop to 10-13 on the year, 5-10 in the MPSF.
"I have to give credit to both teams," said head coach Derek Schmitt. "We knew we could compete with this team. I've never been a part of a game that went this long in the fifth set."
Several Lancers finished the match with double-digit kills: Kevin Vaz with 16, Luis Palos with 11 and Rohit Paul with 10. Enrique de Diego Garcia contributed six kills, while Jackson Burge and Caleb Miller finished with five each. Even libero Emmet Enriques got in on the scoring action and finished with one important kill in the fifth. He also added seven digs, while Cody Jackson finished with a team-high 15 digs.
At the net, Miller and Vaz finished with eight and seven blocks, respectively, helping the Lancers out-block the Gauchos 15-to-10.
"Nobody got down on themselves," said Enriques. "Everybody gave 100 percent. We had a lot of control and were able to set whoever we wanted."
After two dominant sets from UCSB, the Lancers began to find their groove late in the second chasing the comeback after being down by nine. Despite the second-set loss, 25-20, CBU exploded into a 4-0 run to force a Gaucho timeout to start the third.
Momentum remained high for the Lancers as UCSB errors added fuel to kills from Vaz, Miller and Palos to put CBU within one set, 2-1, heading into the fourth. Late in the set, UCSB came within one point of the lead, 15-14, but the Lancer offense ran away with the set to force a fifth set, hoping to complete the epic comeback.
The Lancers then had to come from behind once again, down 4-1 in the frame, to go into extra points – the set was tied 15 times – before Paul finally sealed the deal with an ace.
CBU looks to carry its four-match winning streak momentum into Saturday's MPSF match against No. 6-ranked UCLA at 7 p.m.
