SANTA BARBARA — A trick was played on the Long Beach State women’s volleyball team courtesy of UC Santa Barbara on Saturday night at the Thunderdome.
The host Gauchos swept the 49ers, 25-23, 25-20, 25-16, on Halloween Night to win their seventh match in their last eight attempts.
Senior outside hitter Rebecca Saraceno led the way with a match-high 16 kills for UCSB (18-5, 8-3 Big West Conference), which hit .250 in the contest. Gauchos junior setter Dana Vargas, the younger sister of former 49er Nicole Vargas, handed out 40 assists and came up with six blocks with her older sister in attendance.
Fifth-year senior Naomi Washington was the lone ‘Niner to record double figures in kills with 13. As a team, LBSU (14-6, 7-3 Big West) hit just .127 in the match, including a woeful .028 in the final set. Libero Lauren Minkel added a match-high 14 digs.
Already trailing 2-0, Brian Gimmillaro and the 49er coaching staff showed their frustration in the third set.
The Gauchos took a 6-2 lead early in the frame when LBSU’s Caitlin Ledoux was called for a back-row attack. Gimmillaro argued the call in protest before being shown a yellow card.
Later in the set, assistant coach Matt Ulmer was given his own yellow card after popping off the bench to argue that Saraceno’s kill, which extended the lead to 14-6, sailed long.
The 49ers never recovered and the Gauchos cruised to a 25-16 victory.
Set two was a test of runs and UCSB outlasted LBSU to win, 25-20.
The Gauchos came out swinging in the second set, opening up a 15-8 lead with a 6-0 run that included three aces by Stacey Schmidt.
The ‘Niners answered back with a vengeance, reeling off 10 consecutive points — including five straight from Washington — to take an 18-15 lead before a Gaucho timeout.
UCSB, which hit .303 in the frame, then scored 10 of the next 12 points to close the set.
LBSU, which came into the match with a three-match winning streak, got off to a quick start in the first set, jumping out to a 10-5 lead with a Libby Fontanilla kill in the far right corner.
UCSB chipped away — tying the match at 19 and 20 — before taking its first and only lead of the frame at 21-20 on a Vargas block as part of an 8-1 run. The Gauchos never looked back and won the opener on the last of five Saraceno kills in the set, 25-23.
The 49ers will return home to the Walter Pyramid Friday night to face the University of the Pacific at 7 p.m. The Tigers defeated LBSU in four sets in the teams’ first meeting of the season in early October.