SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The third-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team saw its chance of winning a share of the Big West regular season title fall short after a straight-set loss to No. 18 UC Santa Barbara Saturday in the regular season finale at The Thunderdome. Set scores were 25-22, 25-22, 27-25.
 
The loss snapped UH's 20-match win streak over the Gauchos, which dated back to 2017. Hawai'i also lost for the first time in Santa Barbara since 2016. The loss also means that head coach Charlie Wade must wait until next week for another chance at taking over sole possession as the program's all-time winningest coach.  
 
For the second straight match, the Rainbow Warriors (24-5, 7-3 BWC) played without starters Kristian Titriyski and Louis Sakanoko and their absence was felt. Adrien Roure and Finn Kearney led the way with a team-high 11 kills. UH allowed seven service aces and the Gauchos hit above .400 for much of the match before finishing at .364.
 
Despite falling short of the regular season title, the Warriors still locked up the No. 2 seed in next week's Big West Championship, which UH will host April 24-26 at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. They earned a quarterfinal round bye and will face either third-seeded UC Irvine or sixth-seeded CSUN in Friday's second semifinal at 7:00 p.m.
 
Hawai'i hit .267 for the match with four aces and seven blocks.
 
The Gauchos (12-15, 3-7) were led by Geste Bianchi, who tallied a match-high 21 kills, hitting .450. No other UCSB player reached double-figures in kills but three others had seven or more. Former Warrior setter Jack Walmer finished with 38 assists.
 
Clay Wieter got the start at outside hitter for UH, his first in the starting lineup in five weeks, and finished with four kills, three digs, and two blocks. Setter Tread Rosenthal dished out 30 assists and finished with six digs, three blocks, and three kills.
 
The Gauchos scored four unanswered during the early part of Set 1 and would not relinquish the lead through the remainder of the set. It was much of the same in Set 2 as UCSB led for the majority of the frame. UH got within one late on three occasions but the Gauchos scored back-to-back points to close it out, stuffing Kearney on set point.
 
Hawai'i would not go away easily in Set 3. The Warriors led 18-17 after Rosenthal's stuff block. The teams traded the leads twice more and each team erased set point. Bianchi took over at the end on his senior night recording consecutive kills and his ace sealed it.