2023 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's volleyball team

The 2023 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's volleyball team represented University of California, Santa Barbara in the 2023 NCAA Division I & II men's volleyball season. The Gauchos, led by fifteenth year head coach Rick McLaughlin, played their home games between Robertson Gymnasium. The Gauchos compete as members of the Big West Conference and were picked the finish fourth in the Big West preseason poll.^[1]

2023 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's volleyball
Conference	Big West Conference
Record	8–17 (3–7 Big West)
Head coach	Rick McLaughlin (15th season)
Assistant coaches	Blaine Nielsen (4th season) Jonah Seif (4th season)
Home arena	Robertson Gymnasium
Seasons ← 2022 2024 →

2023 Big West Conference men's volleyball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 2 Hawai'i ‍†‍‡‍y	9	–	1		.900			29	–	3		.906
No. 4 Long Beach State ‍†‍‍y	9	–	1		.900			21	–	5		.808
No. 5 UC Irvine  ‍‍‍	6	–	4		.600			18	–	11		.621
UC Santa Barbara  ‍‍‍	3	–	7		.300			8	–	17		.320
UC San Diego  ‍‍‍	2	–	8		.200			8	–	17		.320
CSUN  ‍‍‍	1	–	9		.100			12	–	16		.429
† – Conference champion ‡ – 2023 Big West Tournament champion y- Invited to the NCAA volleyball tournament As of November 12, 2024 Rankings from AVCA

Preseason

Coaches poll

The preseason poll was released on December 21, 2022. UC Santa Barbara was picked to finish fourth in the Big West Conference standings.^[2]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Hawai'i	25 (5)
2	Long Beach State	19
3	UC Irvine	17 (1)
4	UC Santa Barbara	13
5	CSUN	10
6	UC San Diego	6

Roster

2023 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos Roster[3]
	Defensive Specialist/Libero 1 Jaden Glenn - Sophomore 22 Max Gordon - Sophomore Middle Blockers 6 Donovan Todorov - Sophomore 15 Dain Johnson - Sophomore 20 Reece Francke - Sophomore 24 Brandon Hicks - Senior		Outside Hitters 3 Owen Birg - Freshman 5 Patrick Kane - Freshman 7 Ben Coordt - Freshman 8 Sam Collins - Sophomore 9 Ryan Wilcox - Senior 10 Sam Meister - Freshman 11 Dominic Lang - Sophomore 12 Dayne Chalmers - Junior 14 Andrew Reavis - Sophomore 19 Ben Pearson - Freshman 21 Nick Amoruso - Junior 22 Max Gordon - Sophomore 23 Owen Loncar - Freshman		Opposite Hitters 2 Geste Bianchi - Sophomore 3 Owen Birg - Freshman 4 Rees Barnett - Sophomore 10 Sam Meister - Freshman 21 Nick Amoruso - Junior Setters 1 Jaden Glenn - Sophomore 13 Greg Baglio - Freshman 16 Connor Dunn - Senior 18 Jack Walmer - Sophomore

Schedule

TV/Internet Streaming/Radio information:

ESPN+ will carry most home and all conference road games. All other road broadcasts will be carried by the schools respective streaming partner.

Date Time	Opponent	Rank	Arena City (Tournament)	Television	Score	Attendance	Record (Big West Record)
1/05 3 p.m.	#10 USC	#7	Robertson Gymnasium Santa Barbara, CA (UCSB Asics Invitational)	Vimeo	W 3–1 (19–25, 25–16, 25–18, 25–23)[4][5]	542	1–0
1/06 5:30 p.m.	Lincoln Memorial	#7	Robertson Gymnasium Santa Barbara, CA (UCSB Asics Invitational)		L 2–3 (23–25, 25–21, 22–25, 25–17, 12–15)	234	1–1
1/08 8 p.m.	#2 UCLA	#7	Robertson Gymnasium Santa Barbara, CA	ESPN+	L 0–3 (24–26, 16–25, 14–25)	422	1–2
1/13 7 p.m.	@ #8 Stanford	#10	Burnham Pavilion & Ford Center Stanford, CA	P12+ STAN	L 0–3 (16–25, 24–26, 18–25)	596	1-3
1/14 5 p.m.	@ #8 Stanford	#10	Burnham Pavilion & Ford Center Stanford, CA	P12+ STAN	L 2–3 (25-20, 22–25, 26–24, 24-26, 12-15)	585	1-4
1/19 7 p.m.	@ #10 USC	#12	Galen Center Los Angeles, CA	P12+ USC	L 2–3 (25-21, 22–25, 22–25, 25-18, 12-15)	1,508	1-5
1/20 7 p.m.	@ #2 UCLA	#12	Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, CA	P12+ UCLA	L 0–3 (30-32, 17-25, 21-25)	950	1-6
2/01 7 p.m.	@ #5 Pepperdine	#15	Firestone Fieldhouse Malibu, CA	WavesCast	L 0–3 (23-25, 21-25, 21-25)	372	1-7
2/03 7 p.m.	#5 Pepperdine	#15	Robertson Gymnasium Santa Barbara, CA	ESPN+	W 3-2 (21-25, 25-21, 16-25, 25-11, 15-12)	312	2-7
2/10 5 p.m.	@ #10 BYU	#14	Smith Fieldhouse Provo, UT	BYUtv	L 1–3 (25-22, 19-25, 23-25, 20-25)	3,516	2-8
2/11 5 p.m.	@ #10 BYU	#14	Smith Fieldhouse Provo, UT	BYUtv	L 1–3 (19-25, 20-25, 25-19, 17-25)	3,785	2-9
3/01 7 p.m.	Vanguard		Robertson Gymnasium Santa Barbara, CA	ESPN+	W 3-1 (23-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-20)	114	3-9
3/03 7 p.m.	UC San Diego*		Robertson Gymnasium Santa Barbara, CA	ESPN+	W 3-1 (20-25, 25-22, 28-26, 25-22)	403	4-9 (1-0)
3/10 7 p.m.	Long Beach State*		Robertson Gymnasium Santa Barbara, CA	ESPN+	L 1-3 (25-23, 20-25, 16-25, 23-25)	312	4-10 (1-1)
3/11 7 p.m.	@ Long Beach State*		Walter Pyramid Long Beach, CA	ESPN+	L 2-3 (25-21, 18-25, 20-25, 25-22, 11-15)	1,745	4-11 (1-2)
3/14 7 p.m.	Harvard		Robertson Gymnasium Santa Barbara, CA	ESPN+	W 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-18)	130	5-11
3/16 7 p.m.	#6 UC Irvine*		Robertson Gymnasium Santa Barbara, CA	ESPN+	L 2-3 (25-23, 25-22, 15-25, 11-25, 11-15)	312	5-12 (1-3)
3/17 7 p.m.	@ #6 UC Irvine*		Bren Events Center Irvine, CA	ESPN+	L 0-3 (23-25, 22-25, 20-25)	790	5-13 (1-4)
3/31 7 p.m.	#1 Hawai'i*		Robertson Gymnasium Santa Barbara, CA	ESPN+	L 0-3 (22-25, 21-25, 27-29)	542	5-14 (1-5)
4/01 7 p.m.	#1 Hawai'i*		Robertson Gymnasium Santa Barbara, CA	ESPN+	L 0-3 (19-25, 21-25, 27-29)	634	5-15 (1-6)
4/07 7 p.m.	@ UC San Diego*		LionTree Arena La Jolla, CA	ESPN+	L 2-3 (20-25, 25-20, 25-19, 14-25, 13-15)	851	5-16 (1-7)
4/14 7 p.m.	@ #14 CSUN*		Premier America Credit Union Arena Northridge, CA	ESPN+	W 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-22)	289	6-16 (2-7)
4/15 7 p.m.	#14 CSUN		Robertson Gymnasium Santa Barbara, CA	ESPN+	W 3-1 (25-18, 27-25, 21-25, 25-21)	325	7-16 (3-7)
4/20 5 p.m.	UC San Diego (5)	(4)	Bren Events Center Irvine, CA (Big West Quarterfinal)	ESPN+	W 3-2 (25-18, 23-25, 25-21, 20-25, 15-12)	1	8-16
4/21 5 p.m.	#1 Hawai'i (1)	(4)	Bren Events Center Irvine, CA (Big West Semifinal)	ESPN+	L 0-3 (18-25, 19-25, 18-25)	1	8-17

*-Indicates conference match.

Times listed are Pacific Time Zone.

Announcers for televised games

• USC: Max Kelton & Katie Spieler
• UCLA: Max Kelton & Katie Spieler^[6]
• Stanford: Troy Clardy^[7]
• Stanford: Ted Enberg
• USC: Max Kelton & Cameron Greene ^[8]
• UCLA:
• Pepperdine:
• Pepperdine:
• BYU:
• BYU:
• Vanguard:
• UC San Diego:
• Long Beach State:
• Long Beach State:
• Harvard:
• UC Irvine:
• UC Irvine:
• Hawai'i:
• Hawai'i:
• UC San Diego:
• CSUN:
• CSUN:
• Big West Tournament:

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
RV = Received votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AVCA Coaches	7	10	12	14	15	14	RV									RV	RV	RV
Off the Block Media	Not released		RV

^The Media did not release a Pre-season poll.

References

1. "Hawai'i picked to win 2023 Big West title in preseason poll". Off the Block. December 22, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
2. "Preseason Poll and First Preseason Team Released as The Big West Looks for Fifth Straight National Champion in Men's Volleyball". Big West Conference. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
3. "2023 UC Santa Barbara Men's Volleyball Roster". ucsbgauchos.com. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
4. "UCSB men's volleyball defeats USC". Santa Barbara News-Press. January 7, 2023. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
5. "UCSB wins season opener over USC in men's volleyball". KEYT-TV. January 6, 2023. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
6. "The Gym is Fully Stocked". Twitter. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
7. "A Measuring Stick Match". Twitter. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
8. "Set for a fun one at USC". Twitter. Retrieved January 19, 2023.