The NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship bracket is finally here.
UC Santa Barbara is set to face No. 8 Houston on Friday in Palo Alto at 4:30 p.m. in the opening round of the tournament.
Houston finished fifth in the Big 12 and ended their season as the 22nd-ranked team in the nation with a record of 18-9.
UCSB ended the season 27-4 with a conference record of 17-1, which marked the second time in program history with just one loss in Big West competition.
The Gauchos went 9-2 against top-100 teams and 4-1 against top-50 teams.
Led by Big West Player of the Year, Michelle Ohwobete, Big West Libero of the Year, Macall Peed, and first-year head coach and Big West Coach of the Year Matt Jones, the Gauchos are counting down the days until they are set to face the Cougars.
“We're coming off, honestly pretty pissed off,” Jones said. “So I know the team is excited to get back out and compete and all credit to Long Beach and Hawaii…We feel like we have a good team. We have more to prove. So, we're really excited to get back out and get another chance to compete for sure.”
“It's very exciting, but also something that we as a program have been working towards my entire time here, especially this year,” Ohwobete said. “That's a goal that we have brought back into our forefront. So it's what we were looking for, it's what we were anticipating.”
The Gauchos are coming off of a five-set loss to Long Beach State in the Big West Tournament as the No. 1 seed. Having lost just four games this year, and none back-to-back, resiliency is key with this team.
“Something that we really utilized was if someone was struggling, we just squeezed each other's hand, just like a sense of trust. Like ‘I got you’”, Peed said. “I think little things like that really help in tough matches to know that she has my back like I'm good.”
