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VIDEO: Senior Ceremony  |  VIDEO: Game Recap (courtesy of Ka Leo)

HONOLULU – The 12^th-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball dropped a straight set decision to No. 8 UC Santa Barbara, Saturday in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-21, 25-20, 25-19.
 
With the loss, the Warriors (9-16, 8-14 MPSF) may have sealed their fate of making the MPSF playoffs. UH needs to finish in the top eight of the league standings to qualify for the tournament.
 
UH struggled offensively all night as no one reached double figures in kills. Outside hitter Sinisa Zarkovic led the team with seven kills while Jace Olsen came off the bench and tallied six kills. Brook Sedore, UH's leader in kills on Friday, was limited to four kills with five errors. As a team, UH hit just .132.

Following the match, UH's lone senior Matthew Cheape was honored during the traditional Senior Night ceremony that included two video tributes, including a music video by former Warrior teammate Kala'e Camarillo. Cheape was serenaded by dozens of family and friends on the court, who paid tribute to the former walk-on. The Mililani, O'ahu native played in a total fo 14 career matches prior to this season when he earned the starting libero position.
 
Even Licht led the Gauchos (14-12, 10-10) had a match-high 18 kills and hit .433. Austin Kingi added nine kills. UCSB hit .349 as a team.
 
In the first set, the Warriors fell behind 17-9 after hitting .000 with five kills and five errors. But UH mounted a comeback, pulling to within one at 22-21 with an 8-1 run. But the Gauchos came up with three straight kills by Jake Staahl, Evan Licht, and Miles Evans to pull out the set, 25-21.
 
The teams traded leads for the better part of Set 2. UCSB scored six straight to take an 18-14 lead at the media timeout. The Gauchos pushed their lead to 20-15 and sided-out the rest of the way for a 25-20 victory and 2-0 lead in the match.
 
In the third set, the Warriors trailed 10-6 before tying it at 10.  UCSB extended its lead to 18-15 after a Marks hitting error and were ahead 22-16 after a four-point spurt. The Gauchos closed out the match with Licht's 18^th kill.
 
The Warriors will take a break from MPSF action next week to host their annual Alumni match, Sunday at 5:00 p.m.