SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The No. 9 BYU men's volleyball team travels to California to face the No. 15 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos in a pair of matches this weekend, beginning with a match on Friday, January 19 in Robertson Gymnasium at 6 p.m. PST.
THE COUGARS (3-1)
After two games in Chicago, a 3-2 win over Loyola Chicago and 3-2 loss against Lewis, the Cougars (3-1) enter week three as No. 9 in the AVCA Coaches Poll. BYU has been ranked at No. 9 for two consecutive weeks in 2024, and has been ranked in the top-10 since February 6, 2023.
Junior outside hitter Luke Benson led the Cougars in kills through two matches against Loyola Chicago and Lewis last week, totaling 28 kills and six aces through 10 sets played. On Thursday night against Loyola, Benson finished with a career-high 21 kills, along with six digs, four blocks and 39 attempts on a .333 clip. Benson also had four of BYU's five aces that night, tying his career-high.
BYU head coach Shawn Olmstead is a native of Carpinteria, California, a neighboring city to Santa Barbara. His father Rick Olmstead is extremely well connected in the volleyball community and has served as a referee in the Santa Barbara area since 1975. He also became a regular referee at pro beach volleyball events starting in 1985.
#9 ‼️ pic.twitter.com/sQxi6j2mlj
— BYU Volleyball (@BYUvolleyball) January 17, 2024
THE GAUCHOS (2-3)
UC Santa Barbara dropped down one rank in this week's AVCA Coaches Poll to No. 15 after two losses against Stanford, falling 3-2 (21-25, 22-25, 25-20, 25-22, 14-16) on Friday, January 12 and 3-1 (22-25, 26-24, 23-25, 21-25) on Saturday, January 13. "We played better tonight and I was happy with our effort," said head coach Rick McLaughlin on Saturday. "But Stanford played better, too. Their experience won the match as they made the key plays when necessary. We improved, but we just have to keep working hard and getting better."
Junior opposite Geste Bianchi leads the NCAA with 98 kills in 2024, averaging 4.67 kills per set as the third-highest.
COUGARS VS. GAUCHOS
The Cougars are on a two-game win streak against UCSB, winning two games in 2023 at the Smith Fieldhouse. Since his first season as head coach for BYU men’s volleyball in 2016, Shawn Olmstead is 10-5 against the Gauchos.
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