Gauchos Upset Trojans in NCAA Men’s Semifinals

Bill Kauffman
Associate Director, Communications
Phone: 719-228-6800
E-Mail: bill.kauffman@usav.org

Box Score

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (May 5, 2011) – Fourth-seed UC Santa Barbara (18-14) continued its Cinderella playoff season by defeating top-seeded University of Southern California (23-4) 29-27, 24-26, 25-15, 25-18 Thursday evening in the NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship semifinal round at University Park, Pa.

UC Santa Barbara will face the winner of the second NCAA semifinal Thursday night between Penn State University and Ohio State University in the NCAA championship match on May 7 at 7 p.m. ET at University Park, Pa. UCSB is now 5-0 in NCAA semifinal matches, but has yet to win a NCAA title in its four previous trips.

The Gauchos have now defeated the top-ranked Trojans twice in six days. UCSB, ranked third in the AVCA Division I-II Men’s Coaches Top 15 Poll and seeded fourth in the four-team NCAA championship, upset USC in a five-set Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship match last Saturday to earn a berth into the NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship. Prior to winning the MPSF playoffs with three consecutive victories, UCSB had won just two of seven matches to conclude the regular season.

UCSB will be trying to become only the second team ever to win the NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship with double-digit losses. UCLA won the title in 2006 with a 26-12 record. No other team has won the team with more than eight losses.

UCSB won the first set 29-27 after saving three set points and USC rallying from a 19-15 to take a 22-21 advantage. The Trojans tied the match at one set apiece with a 26-24 victory in the second set after AVCA Division I-II Player of the Year Murphy Troy provided a kill and ace for the final two points. The Gauchos built a 10-6 lead in the third set and never allowed the Trojans closer than two points in winning 25-15. UCSB trailed 6-4 in the fourth set before scoring five unanswered points to take a 9-6 lead en route to a commanding 25-18 victory.

Cullen Irons paced the winning Gauchos with 15 kills on 25 attacks as part of a .520 hitting percentage. He added six blocks (one solo), six digs and an ace. Dylan Davis was near perfect on attack with 15 kills on 17 errorless attacks for an .882 hitting efficiency. He added two block assists in the victory. Jeff Menzel added 13 kills, two block assists, an ace and six digs. Scott Slaughter chipped in seven kills and five block assists. Vince Devany set UCSB to a .394 attack efficiency with 45 assists to go with seven digs. Trey Valbuena added eight kills on 10 errorless attacks.

Tri Bourne led USC with a match-high 20 kills to go with four block assists and four digs. Troy added 18 kills, seven block assists, one ace and six digs. Tony Ciarelli pocketed 10 kills and an ace. Riley McKibbin set the Trojans to a .333 team hitting efficiency with 59 assists. Steven Shandrick tacked on eight kills on 14 attacks and eight block assists. Austin Zahn turned in five kills on eight swings with three total blocks.

UCSB benefited from 20 USC service errors to offset the Trojans’ 11-8 advantage in blocks. The Gauchos held a slim 34-29 margin in digs as both teams served two aces.

UCSB gained a three-point cushion in the opening set at 10-7 after a Valbuena kill. However, Bourne put up a kill and block assist with Troy to tie the score a 10-all. The Gauchos regained a three-point edge at 16-13 with consecutive Trojan errors, then expanded their lead to 19-15 with another USC error leading to a timeout. USC cut the deficit to one at 19-18, including a Bourne kill and block assist with Shandrick and Troy. Bourne knotted the score at 20-all with a kill after Shandrick and Troy combined for a block. USC went back into the lead at 22-21 with a Shandrick kill, prompting a Gaucho timeout. However, UCSB answered with a Irons block solo giving the Gauchos a 23-22 advantage. The lead bounced back to USC with a Troy kill at 24-23. UCSB saved three set points and took the lead at 27-26 with a Menzel kill, who then he combined with Slaughter for a block to win the first set 29-27. Four different Gauchos had at least three kills in the opening set, while USC was led by Bourne’s eight kills. USC committed six service errors in the set.

UCSB held a two-point edge at 10-8 and the teams traded the next 17 points until the Trojans were able to score consecutive points to tie the set at 18-all with a Gaucho attack error. USC reached set point first at 24-23 with a Troy and Shandrick block after a Bourne kill. After the Gauchos saved one set point, Troy slammed a kill and served an ace to give the Trojans a 26-24 victory and tie the match at one set apiece.

UCSB jumped to a 4-0 lead in the third set with kills from Davis and Slaughter around two Trojan errors. However, USC charged back to within one at 4-3 thanks to two blocks. The Gauchos opened their lead back up to four points at 10-6 with consecutive kills from Menzel and Davis. The Trojans cut the deficit in half at 14-12 after a McKibben and Shandrick block, only to have Gauchos score two unanswered points with a Davis kill and block assist with Irons at 16-12. UCSB continued on a four-point scoring run to open an 18-12 advantage following a Davis kill. The Gauchos went on to win the set 25-15.

USC took a 6-4 lead in the fourth set with kill from Ciarelli and a Gaucho attack error. However, UCSB responded with five unanswered points that included two kills and a block assist from Menzel, along with a USC service and attack error. The Gauchos inched the lead to four points at 12-8 with a combined block from Slaughter and Irons after an Irons kill. Consecutive Trojans errors gave UCSB a 14-9 lead, which jumped to 17-10 after consecutive Irons kills and a Menzel kill. USC closed the gap to four points at 21-17 before the Gauchos closed out the match with four of the last five points.

Notes:

The USC-UCSB NCAA semifinal match is only the second time in NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship history in the four-team tournament format that two teams from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation have met in the semifinals. In 2008, Pepperdine defeated Long Beach State in three sets in the NCAA semifinals.

USC made its second NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship appearance in the last three years and 13th overall. The Trojans won NCAA title in 1977, 1980, 1988 and 1990. Overall, USC is 16-9 all-time in NCAA semifinal and championship matches.

USC won the MPSF regular season title for the first time since 2000. All three of USC’s losses entering the NCAA semifinals were in five sets, including to UCSB in the MPSF championship match.

UCSB, which has never won the NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship, is making its fifth appearance in the NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship. The Gauchos were runners-up in 1971, 1974, 1975 and 1988. Prior to 2011, UCSB’s last match in NCAA tournament play was against USC, losing to the Trojans in the championship match in 1988.

UCSB defeated a trio of teams in the MPSF playoffs just to reach the NCAA tournament. During the regular season, the Gauchos were a combined 1-6 against their MPSF playoff opponents.

UCSB is coached by Rick McLaughlin, the brother of former USC head coach Jim McLaughlin who led the Trojans to the NCAA title in 1990.

USC’s Murphy Troy was named the AVCA Division I-II National Player of the Year during the NCAA Championship banquet held Wednesday night.

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