Box Score
Season Stats
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (SMU) -- The SMU volleyball team defeated UC Santa Barbara 3-1 (25-22, 25-13, 24-26, 25-17), spoiling the Gauchos' home opener in The Thunderdome Friday night. Abbey Bybel led the Mustangs with 16 kills, one shy of her career high, which she set against San Francisco in 2013 and matched at UCF last season.
The Mustangs ended the match in fourth set, winning 25-17. SMU started the set on an 8-3 run, and stretched the lead to as many as eight, 22-14, which was the final deficit. The Gauchos (4-3) took a 2-1 lead, but SMU (6-1) never trailed again. After a UCSB kill on SMU's first attempt at match point, Kristen Stehling slammed a kill to end the match, giving SMU its fifth straight win.
Stehling scored nine kills, and Janelle Giordano and Cailin Bula each finished with 11 kills. Giordano hit a match-high .476, with just one error in 21 attempts. Avery Acker recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 47 assists and 15 digs, and Morgan Heise finished with 27 digs. SMU hit .289 as a team with 62 kills. UCSB was held to 47 kills, hitting .161.
UCSB erased a 23-20 deficit, coming back for a 26-24 win in the third to avoid the sweep. SMU took a 5-1 lead to start the set, but the Gauchos came back to take a 10-8 lead, scoring four straight points. UCSB stretched the lead to four, but a 4-0 run by the Mustangs tied the score again, 13-13. The score was still tied, 20-20, before SMU score three straight for the 23-20 advantage. UCSB scored the next four, taking a 24-23 lead, and scored two of the next three to take the set.
The Mustangs held off a late charge by the Gauchos to take the first set 25-22. With a 22-16 SMU lead, UCSB scored four straight to cut the lead to two, 22-20. UCSB scored two of the next three to cut the lead to one, 23-22. SMU scored a block and a kill on the next two points to take the set. UCSB took a 5-2 lead to start the set, but SMU took its first lead of the set, 9-8, as part of a 6-0 run, taking a 12-8 lead. The Mustangs never trailed again, stretching the lead to as many as seven, 20-13.
SMU took a 10-3 lead to start the second set, and UCSB never got within four points the rest of the way. The Mustangs easily won the set 25-13 to take a 2-0 advantage in the match. Bybel had four kills in the set, leading the SMU attack, and Heise had nine digs. The Mustangs held the Gauchos to just eight kills in the set with a .056 attack percentage.
The Mustangs face No. 18 San Diego Saturday at 1 p.m. CT/11 a.m. PT before concluding the UC Santa Barbara Invitational against No. 17 UCLA at 9 p.m. CT/7 p.m. PT. UCLA beat San Diego 3-1 in the first match of the tournament Friday.
