Nov. 15, 2006

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On The Schedule
Friday, Nov. 17 -
Match No. 28: UC Santa Barbara at UC Davis, 7 p.m.
at UC Davis Pavilion

Light Week Ahead The UC Santa Barbara women's volleyball team will head to UC Davis on Friday for the second match-up of the season with the Aggies at 7 p.m. in the Pavilion. Friday's pairing will be the only of the week for the Gauchos who finished their Big West Conference schedule with a pair of wins last weekend. UCSB defeated Pacific 30-22, 30-24, 30-26 Friday evening before hosting Cal State Northridge in the final home match of the season on Saturday. The Gauchos posted a comeback victory over the Matadors with game scores of 27-30, 24-30, 30-15, 30-22, 15-11, marking the first match of the season that UCSB has recovered from a two-game deficit. Also notable was Northridge's 15 points in game three which stands as the fewest points allowed by UCSB this season outside of a fifth game. With the pair of wins, the UCSB overall record was lifted to 16-11 overall and 8-6 in the Big West.

The Gaucho Reign Ends
After capturing four consecutive Big West titles (2002-05), the Gaucho's reign as defending champions ended as No. 16 Cal Poly captured the conference title for the first time in 22 years this weekend when they completed their BWC schedule with a 13-1 mark. Last season's co-champion Long Beach State has sealed up second place with a 10-2 mark (they still have two matches remaining). The Gauchos have captured third place, but whether or not they share that spot depends on how Northridge and UC Irvine perform this weekend, both teams' sport 6-6 records. The last time UCSB finished third in conference was in 2001 and the last time the Gauchos tallied eight or fewer conference victories was in 1984, their first season as a member of the Big West.

Keeping Postseason Hopes Alive
With Cal Poly capturing the Big West's automatic bid into the 2006 NCAA Tournament, the Gauchos will now have to wait until the tournament selection show on Sunday, November 26 to see if they have received an at-large bid into the first round of the 64-team pool. UCSB has made an appearance in every one of the 25 NCAA volleyball tournaments and is one of only three schools to do so along with Penn State and Stanford. The selection show will air at 11:30 a.m. on ESPN News.

About the Aggies
UC Davis last played on November 7 when they took on No. 22 Santa Clara at home. The Aggies dropped the pairing 30-24, 30-22, 30-15. With the loss the UC Davis record dropped to 4-22 overall. Chantal Paschetta led UC Davis with eight kills in the loss while Katelyn Astruc handed out 19 assists.

Paschetta leads UC Davis offensively with 287 kills on the season, good for a 3.30 kills per game average. Astruc averages 10.14 assists per game and has a team-leading 22 service aces. Avreeta Singh leads all Aggies with 5.15 digs per game this season while Kelly Patterson averages 0.99 blocks per game.

The Gauchos and Aggies last met during UCSB's home opener September 20. UCSB captured a 3-0 sweep with scores of 30-24, 30-17, 30-20 with Jamie Garbisch posting a team-leading 17 kills and Rebecca Saraceno recording a career-high six service aces. The Gauchos lead the series with their future Big West foe, 7-0.

The Gregory Goods
Kathy Gregory is the only coach UCSB women's volleyball has ever known, guiding the program to a 781-327 record since accepting the reigns of the team in 1975. In her 31 years at the helm - the longest tenure in the history of Gaucho Athletics - "The Queen" has guided Santa Barbara to 20 or more victories 26 times, while her teams have finished the season ranked amongst the nation's top-25 on 28 occasions. She can boast five NCAA Sweet 16 appearances in the past eight years (including three Elite Eights) as well as National Coach of the Year honors in 1993. Gregory, a member of the Volleyball Hall of Fame, has also earned Big West Coach of the Year acclaim in each of the past four seasons.

The Best Service In Town
Freshman Stephanie Brandt tops the Big West in service aces for the fifth consecutive week with her .40 per game average. The Irvine, Calif. native collected two aces during Saturday's match against Northridge and has tallied a total of 36 this season. Brandt also ranks third in assists as she averages a team-leading 12.36 assists per game, helping the Gauchos to a collective 14.04 assist average, which is topped only by Long Beach in the BWC. This past week, the 5'9" setter posted a double-double against Northridge with 59 assists and 14 digs, marking the sixth double-double performance of her freshman campaign.

Just Try To Outhit Olivia
Middle blocker Olivia Waldowski continues to dominate the conference with her .387 hitting percentage and is currently ranked 25th in the nation amongst Division I players. The Irvine, Calif. native had a match leading .682 clip against Pacific on Friday recording a team-high 16 kills on 22 attempts with only one error. The next night Waldowski once again led the Gauchos with 20 kills and a .341 hitting percentage. In addition to her spot on the conference's hitting percentage list, the 6'3" middle blocker is also seventh for kills with a 3.42 per game average and is one of only three players to grace both lists.

Back On Top
Senior libero Emily Hendrickson had led the conference in digs for ten consecutive weeks before she fell to second last week. After posting a combined 52 digs between last weekend's two matches, the Long Beach, Calif. native has reclaimed her place on top of the Big West leader board with a 5.39 dig per game average. Hendrickson posted 15 digs versus Pacific and topped that the following evening with 37 digs, which is her second highest dig total in a single match, in the comeback victory over Northridge. The 2005 All-Big West Honorable Mention has helped pace the Gauchos defensively as they rank second as a team with 17.17 digs per game. Hendrickson's performance over the weekend lifted her to sixth on the Gauchos' all-time career digs list with 1,458 total in her time wearing the blue and gold.

Double Trouble
Outside hitters Jamie Garbisch and Lauren McLaughlin each put up double-doubles over the weekend. Garbisch, who currently leads the team and ranks third in the Big West with her 3.91 kills per game average, had 29 kills on the weekend including a 16 kill, 15-dig performance against the Matadors. The senior has tallied a team-leading 12 double-doubles this season. Sophomore McLaughlin tallied 10 kills and 15 digs on Friday only to top that showing the next day with 14 kills and 20 digs, giving her eight double-double performances this season.

Brett At The Net
Of the Gauchos' 17 blocks collected on the weekend, junior Brett Quirarte got her hands on eleven of them. The middle blocker collected a match-high six block assists against Pacific and had a team-high five blocks (one solo, four assisted) versus the Matadors. Quirarte is ninth in the BWC with 1.16 blocks per game and she is also seventh with a season hitting percentage of .297.

Looking Ahead
Following this weekend, UCSB will head to Long Beach, Calif. for the Baden Thanksgiving Classic where Albany and Western Michigan will be on slate November 24. The tournament will mark the end of the regular season for the Gauchos and they will have to wait till November 26 to find out if they made the cut for this year's NCAA tournament.