Gauchos Handed First Big West Road Loss by No. 12 Cal Poly

Lindsey Ruddins (Photo by Tony Mastres)
Lindsey Ruddins (Photo by Tony Mastres)

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – Facing a talented No. 12 Cal Poly side Friday night on the road, the UC Santa Barbara women's volleyball team was defeated in straight sets, 25-14, 25-22, 25-19.

Offensively, the Gauchos (12-8, 4-4) relied heavily on redshirt junior outside hitter Lindsey Ruddins, who put away a match-high 18 kills (6.00 K/S) on 46 attempts for a hitting percentage of .217.

Freshman setter Olivia Lovenberg ended her day with 38 assists, the most in her last three outings.

However, there was simply no slowing down a Mustang team (17-1, 7-0) which entered the week ranked 11th in the nation in hitting percentage, as the home side took a .386 to .167 edge in that department.

The Gauchos hung tight with Cal Poly in the early parts of the first set, trailing by just one point at 7-6 following a Ruddins kill. The Mustangs would seize control, scoring eight unanswered en route to a 25-14 first set win.

In set two, a balanced offensive attack would see UCSB trailing by a single point numerous times down the stretch. Cal Poly led 20-16, but kills from Torre Glasker and Rowan Ennis helped cut the deficit to 20-19. Both sides would trade points until, leading 23-22, the Mustangs would claim the final two points of the set to win 25-22.

The Mustangs would jump out to leads of 8-4 and 14-6 in the following set, eventually winning it 25-19. Glasker and Ennis finished with nine and seven kills, respectively. Freshman Megan Lewis added six kills of her own, giving her 10 over the Gauchos' last two matches.

UCSB will resume its season-long four-match road trip next weekend, when it travels to Long Beach State on Friday, Oct. 19 before facing CSUN the following night.