The Place for College Men's Volleyball
Check out Off the Block’s interview with UC Santa Barbara Rick McLaughlin about the Gauchos climbing to No. 5 in the national rankings, their 10-match winning streak and how they hope to maintain their momentum with a bye week. Continue reading “Audio: McLaughlin discusses strong start to UC Santa Barbara season”
Check out UC Santa Barbara coach Rick McLaughlin’s postmatch news conference following his team’s five-game postseason victory against UCLA on Saturday. Video courtesy of Off the Block special contributor Jonathan Bates. Continue reading “Video: UCSB coach McLaughlin discusses postseason win vs. UCLA”
Coach Rick McLaughlin admitted UC Santa Barbara didn’t play its cleanest match of the season but more importantly it did just enough to survive and pick-up a critical road victory.
No. 5 UC Santa Barbara rallied from a nine-point opening game loss to beat No. 7 Long Beach State 16-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-23, 15-12 on Thursday in Long Beach, Calif.
Continue reading “Video: UCSB coach McLaughlin reacts to road win vs. Long Beach State”
The UC Santa Barbara Invitational on its 40th anniversary will have a revamped look for the 2014 season.
UC Santa Barbara coach Rick McLaughlin said Wednesday that the annual non-conference tournament will undergo numerous format changes for the upcoming season including adding a pool-play round and decreasing the matches counting towards a team’s overall season record.
Continue reading “UC Santa Barbara Invitational changes format for 2014 season”
Ohio State for the first time in its 43-year program history is the national champion.
Ohio State defeated UC Santa Barbara 20-25, 25-20, 25-19, 22-25, 15-9 in the men’s volleyball NCAA championship match on Saturday in University Park, Pa., to become the first Midwest school to win the national title.
Buckeye setter Steven Kehoe was named the NCAA Tournament MVP as he guided the offense to out-hit the Gauchos .329 to .198. In addition, four Ohio State players finished the match with at least 10 kills, including outside attacker Shawn Sangrey who had a match-high 30 kills.
Check out the what the players and coaches had to say afterward in the postmatch news conference.
Continue reading “NCAA championship postmatch news conference: Ohio State vs. UC Santa Barbara”
Fear the underdog Gauchos.
UC Santa Barbara will take its historic postseason run all the way to the national championship match as it upset USC in four games in the NCAA Tournament semifinals on Thursday in University Park, Pa.
Middle attacker Dylan Davis had a season-high 15 kills and was one of three Gauchos with at least 15 kills in the victory. UC Santa Barbara also out-hit USC .394 to. .333, including hitting .500 in the final game.
Continue reading “Postmatch news conference: USC vs. UC Santa Barbara”
UC Santa Barbara coach Rick McLaughlin along with outside attacker Jeff Menzel, libero Andy McGuire and middle attacker Scott Slaughter conducted a news conference Wednesday heading into their NCAA Tournament match.
The No. 4 seed UC Santa Barbara will play the No. 1 seed USC in the NCAA Tournament semifinals at 7 p.m. Thursday in University Park, Pa.
The Gauchos (17-14, 11-11 MPSF) defeated three top-five ranked teams in the conference tournament to become first No. 7 seed to ever in the MPSF Tournament and advance to the Final Four.
View an abridged version of the news conference below. Continue reading “Q&A with UC Santa Barbara at the men’s volleyball NCAA Tournament”
One person not complaining about the seeding for the men’s volleyball NCAA Tournament is UC Santa Barbara coach Rick McLaughlin.
McLaughlin said Monday on The Net Live podcast that despite some fans wanting UC Santa Barbara to be seeded higher he prefers the No. 4 seed because he wants to play to the No. 1 seed USC in the semifinals.
Continue reading “UC Santa Barbara coach McLaughlin says fine with No. 4 seed, wants to play USC”
Coach Rick McLaughlin and his UC Santa Barbara team main goal entering this season was to make the MPSF Tournament — it was a lofty goal given the program’s recent history.
The No. 6 Gauchos had missed the eight-team conference tournament for the last five years — the third longest active streak in the MPSF. With six conference matches remaining, though, UC Santa Barbara (11-8, 9-7 MPSF) is in sixth place in the MPSF and poised to qualify for its first postseason tournament since 2006.
In addition, UC Santa Barbara has been ranked as high as No. 3 this season. It is also the only team in the nation to have two players, Jeff Menzel and Cullen Irons, ranked in the nation’s top 20 for kills per game average.
Off the Block conducted an interview with McLaughlin earlier this week to discuss the chances of UC Santa Barbara making the postseason and possibility of making a run deep in the conference tournament.
Continue reading “Q&A with UC Santa Barbara coach Rick McLaughlin”
Follow