Box Score

HONOLULU - The University of Hawai`i lost its sixth-straight match tonight as visiting UC Santa Barbara defeated the Warriors in four in front of 3,070 at the Stan Sheriff Center in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match.

No. 9 Hawai`i falls to 2-8 overall and 2-6 in the MPSF, while No. 4 UCSB improves to 10-3 and 8-2.

The Gauchos came out on fire offensively in the first game sporting a .439 hitting percentage. UH hit well also posting a .375 percentage. UCSB's Evan Patak and UH's Jim Clar each had nine kills in that first game.

The first game swayed back and forth until UH took a 16-15 lead. UCSB would then reel off three-straight points to take control and played sideout the rest of the way to win, 30-26.

It was all UH in Game 2 as the Warriors hit a sizzling .536 and held UCSB to just .235 hitting. Redshirt freshman Mark Ribeiro, who made his first appearance and start with the Warriors, had 10 kills through the first two games. UH breezed to a 30-20 win in game two.

From then, it was Gauchos. UCSB hit a whopping .475 in Game 3, and the Warriors fizzled with a negative .212 hitting percentage in Game 4 as the Gauchos took games three and four by scores of 30-19 and 30-20 to win their first series against Hawai`i since 1987.

The Warriors were led by Ribeiro's career-high 16 kills while Clar added 14. UCSB's Patak slammed down a match-high 18 kills with Bryan Berman and Theo Brunner adding 17 and 12, respectively.

The six-match skid by UH is the longest since the 1991 season when the Warriors dropped seven in a row.

UH completes its four-match homestand next week when the Trojans of USC visit Honolulu Feb. 14 and 16.

-UH-