The UC Santa Barbara women’s volleyball team matched up against California State University, Northridge on Saturday, Sept. 27, resulting in a 3-1 win for the Gauchos. UC Santa Barbara won this match despite missing key starter sophomore outside hitter Eva Travis.

“That was huge for us … Northridge is going to be a good team in the conference this year. They’re super improved from last year. They’re playing really good volleyball. We had [Travis] out sick tonight, but we also just had some just sick bodies across the team. So, I was just trying to battle through that, and we did a nice job once we kind of started to get the rhythm going. Just proud of everyone who came in tonight and stepped up.” UCSB women’s volleyball Head Coach Matt Jones said.

In the first set, the CSU Northridge Matadors started off strong winning 25-22. The second set remained close until the end, but the Gauchos claimed victory thanks to a kill from sophomore outside hitter Emma McDermott to take the lead. McDermott totaled 11 kills in this match and led the Gauchos to win the second set 25-22.

Set 3 was a battle of wits as both teams were tied for the majority of the set. Tied at 25 apiece, the Gauchos scored two in a row with an error from the Matadors, giving them the win in set 3 with a score of 27-25. Set 4, the final set of the match, remained close in the first half. The Gauchos finished the second half with a 25-21 win, ultimately winning the match 3-1. Freshman outside hitter Gabi Martinez led the Gauchos to this overall match victory with a stunning total of 19 kills. This is a career high for Martinez.

The 10-4 UCSB women’s volleyball team will play at CSU Long Beach next on Friday, Oct. 3.