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Nov. 30, 2004

The Schedule
NCAA Tournament • Atlanta, GA • O'Keefe Gymnasium (1,356)
First Round • Friday, Dec. 3, 2004
Match 1 • Georgia (18-11) at Georgia Tech (25-6) • 2:00 p.m. PST
Match 2 • UC Santa Barbara (23-3) vs. Alabama A&M (22-5) • 4:00 p.m. PST
Second Round • Saturday, Dec. 4, 2004
Match 3 • Winner of Match 1 vs. Winner of Match 2 • 11:00 a.m. PST

2004 Gaucho Record
23-3 overall/16-2 Big West Conference
9-2 home/11-1 away/3-0 neutral
USA Today/CSTV Ranking: 16th
Volleyball magazine Ranking: 17th

Big West Champion Gauchos Seek Second Sweet 16 in a Three-Year Span
Thirteen will have to be a lucky number for the UC Santa Barbara women's volleyball team, which for the 24th consecutive season will compete in the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championships. In 2004 UCSB earned a No. 13 national seed from the NCAA Selection Committee and will travel to Atlanta for early-round tournament action, where Alabama A&M awaits as a first round opponent on Friday, Dec. 3 at approximately 7:00 p.m. EST/4:00 PST. The Gaucho-Lady Dog showdown will commence 30 minutes after the conclusion of Friday's other opening round contest in O'Keefe Gymnasium between host school Georgia Tech and Georgia at 5:00 EST/2:00 PST. The winners of each match will then play one another on Saturday, Dec. 4 at 2:00 p.m. EST/11:00 a.m. PST, with the victors advancing to the NCAA Regional Semifinals in Minneapolis the following weekend. Sixteenth-ranked Santa Barbara will ride into the Big Dance on a season-long 13-match winning streak, during which they have only lost six total games.

Gauchos on the Air and Web
KCSB 91.9FM will broadcast all of the Gauchos' NCAA Tournament matches live, with Mike Lipka traveling to Atlanta to call the play-by-play. The station also offers a free webcast at www.kcsb.org. In addition, live "Gametracker" scoring will be available at www.ucsbgauchos.com.

NCAA Tournament Tradition
You'll hear this statistic mentioned quite often, because the Gauchos are quite proud of it. With its automatic berth this season, UCSB remains one of only four schools - along with Pacific, Penn State and Stanford - to compete in all 23 NCAA Championships dating back to the tournament's inception in 1981. Santa Barbara has served as a host site 17 times - most recently in 2002 - while 2004 marks the second straight year (and only third time overall) that the Gauchos have been sent outside the Pacific Time Zone for early-round play. Last season then-20th-ranked UCSB traveled to Minneapolis and lost a five-game heartbreaker to No. 16 Northern Iowa in the first round. Most of Santa Barbara's NCAA tourney success has come in recent years, with three Elite Eight and two Sweet 16 appearances since 1997. In their 23 previous Big Dance appearances, the Gauchos have posted a collective 20-23 record.

Probable Starters	Notes
#2 • Mari Bell • Sr. • S	62 assists at Idaho are most by a Gaucho this year
#4 • Kristin Nelson • Sr. • L	Big West Conference-record 1,691 career digs
#5 • Megan Blackshire • Jr. • MB	Two-time first team all-conference performer
#7 • Olivia Waldowski • So. • MB	League-leading 1.45 blocks per game
#10 • Bethany Johansen • Fr. • MB/OH	Hitting .347, fourth-best in the Big West
#13 • Jamie Garbisch • So. • OH	Career-high 13 kills, six aces at UC Davis
#17 • Janine Sandell • So. • OH	Gauchos' kill leader 18 times this season
Reserves	Notes
#3 • Baylee Hassett • So. • L	Career-best 18 digs in starting role vs. UOP
#8 • Brett Quirarte • Fr. • MB	Three total kills during rookie campaign
#9 • Emily Hendrickson • So. • OH	0.54 aces per game rank second in Big West
#11 • Jamie Darley • Fr. • MB	Has yet to take the court as a rookie; will redshirt
#12 • Kaycee Matthess • L/S	Gives UCSB solid depth at libero and setter
#16 • Jackie Davis • So. • S/DS	Backup setter appeared in 22 games last year
#18 • Ashley Dutro • Fr. • S	Big West All-Freshman Team selection
#20 • Amy Sarkaria • Sr. • OH	Five kills, six blocks in regular season finale

Lady Dog Lingo
Alabama A&M advanced to the Big Dance after capturing its fifth straight Southwestern Athletic Conference title. The Lady Dogs currently own a 22-5 overall record and went 8-0 in SWAC regular season play before winning the league tourney with a 3-1 win over Grambling State on Nov. 13. Senior outside hitter Phyllis Hetie - the conference player of the year - averages a team-high 5.10 kills per game for AAMU. This will be the first-ever meeting between Santa Barbara and Alabama A&M, which is located in Normal, Ala.

Yellow Jacket Jabber
Georgia Tech went 25-6 overall and won the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season title with a perfect 16-0 mark, but was then upset by Clemson in the league tourney semifinals on Nov. 19 to snap its 21-match winning streak. The Yellow Jackets - an at-large selection into the field of 64 - feature senior setter Lindsey Laband, the nation's leader in assists per game at 15.46. UCSB is 2-0 all-time vs. GT, most recently sweeping the Jackets on Sept. 9, 1999 en route to victory at the Courtyard by Marriott Classic in Atlanta.

Bulldog Banter
Another at-large qualifier, 18-11 Georgia finished fifth in the Southeastern Conference with a 9-7 league mark and ended its season with a 3-0 home loss on Nov. 23 to the same Georgia Tech squad it will face Friday. With 4.77 put-aways per game, junior middle blocker Alexandra Oquendo leads the Bulldog attack. The Gauchos have never faced UGA.

The Gregory File
Kathy Gregory is the only coach UCSB women's volleyball has ever known, guiding the program to a 743-306 (.708) record since accepting the reigns of the team in 1975. In her 30 years at the helm - the longest tenure in the history of Gaucho Athletics - "The Queen" has guided Santa Barbara to 20 or more victories 26 times, while her teams have finished the season ranked amongst the nation's top-25 on 27 occasions. She can boast five NCAA Sweet 16 appearances in the past seven years (including three Elite Eights) as well as National Coach of the Year honors in 1993. Gregory, a member of the Volleyball Hall of Fame and currently the sixth-winningest active coach in the NCAA Division I ranks, has also earned Big West Coach of the Year acclaim in each of the last three seasons.

Gauchos Earn Numerous All-Conference Awards
After capturing its third consecutive league title, UCSB was justly rewarded with a host of all-conference honors, including the third straight Big West Coach of the Year award for Kathy Grerory. It is the fifth such accolade of her distinguished career. Meanwhile senior libero Kristin Nelson and junior middle blocker Megan Blackshire repeated as first team all-conference selections; Nelson remains the only libero in league history to earn that recognition. They were joined on the All-Big West First Team by a pair of sophomores - outside hitter Janine Sandell and middle blocker Olivia Waldowski - who both became major contributors in 2004 after earning all-freshman team honors a season ago. This year's seven-player Big West All-Freshman Team included a pair of Gauchos, setter Ashley Dutro and opposite hitter Bethany Johansen. Senior outside hitter Kelly Wing of UC Irvine was named Big West Player of the Year while Long Beach State middle blocker Alexis Crimes garnered Freshman of the Year acclaim.

Poll Position
UCSB will enter the postseason ranked 16th nationally in the USA Today/CSTV Top-25 Coaches' Poll and 17th according to Volleyball magazine's weekly rankings. The Gauchos opened the 2004 campaign at No. 16 according to USA Today/CSTV, reaching a season-high of eighth on Sept. 13 following their back-to-back sweeps of nationally-ranked Texas A&M and California. Finally, back in August the ten Big West Conference coaches correctly predicted that Santa Barbara would defend its league championship, giving UCSB nine first-place votes.

Frustrating Foes
The Gauchos have gotten defensive in 2004, and it's not because their feelings have been hurt. Santa Barbara leads the Big West in all three of the main defensive categories, including opponent hitting percentage by surrendering just a .154 mark. No UCSB foes has hit above .273 this season, while seven have been held below .100. Part of that embarrassingly low figure is attributable to the Gauchos' blocking and digging averages of 2.83 and 18.12 which are also tops in the Big West. After amassing double-digit blocks just 12 times in all of 2003, UCSB has already done so on 14 occasions this season including a late-season stretch of five straight matches, while Santa Barbara has out-dug 20 of its 26 opponents entering the postseason.

Coming Up Aces
Two of UCSB's goals for 2004 were improving its blocking and serving. While the Gauchos' defense at the net has obviously made strides, so is their ability to score points without playing any defense at all. Beginning with a whopping 12-ace performance in the season opener, Santa Barbara has served up more aces than all but four foes this season, owning a 191-115 advantage in that category. Such serving prowess has propelled UCSB to long scoring runs, such as a 14-0 game-three spurt vs. Cal Poly on Sept. 14 during which Emily Hendrickson notched three aces. The Gauchos' Big West-leading 2.15 aces per game currently rank 19th nationally are well above their season average of 1.59 from 2003. UCSB enjoyed double-digit ace performances against both Cal Poly and UC Davis to close the regular season.

Finding that Killer Instinct
During the first half of their 2004 campaign, the Gauchos were either blowing teams out or losing close decisions as they dropped six of their first eight games decided by the minimum two-point margin. Five of those disappointments came during their slump of three defeats in a five-match span. However en route to its current season-long 13-match winning streak UCSB found its killer instinct, capturing seven of its final nine nail-biters entering the NCAA tourney. All in all, the Gauchos are 9-8 in games which go down to the wire, and 4-3 in those which have extended past 30 points.

Full Nelson
Down the stretch of the 2004 season, Gaucho senior libero Kristin Nelson has averaged approximately one new milestone per week. On Nov. 13, she became UCSB's all-time leader in career digs while racking up 34 scoops during a four-game victory at UC Irvine. That came on the heels of a 35-dig effort at Long Beach State and led to her first career Big West Player of the Week award on Nov. 15. Later that day the Manhattan Beach, Calif., native was subsequently named Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week, making her the first libero ever to garner such recognition and only the fifth player in Gaucho history to do so. Nelson celebrated her prestigious national honor by breaking the 20-year-old conference record for career digs as UCSB swept UC Davis in its regular season finale. Ironically, that was the only match this year in which she has not led the Gauchos in digs. The two-time First Team All-Big West performer enters the Big Dance with 1,691 career scoops and a digs per game average of 6.28 in 2004 that is currently ranks seventh-best among all Division I players. That mark has been boosted by 12 contests this season with at least 20 scoops, half of those being 30 or more.

Back in Blackshire
Along with Nelson, Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Laura Schlessinger, another Santa Barbara County resident making noise on a national level is UCSB junior middle blocker Megan Blackshire. The Capistrano Beach, Calif., currently ranks 19th nationally with a .389 hitting percentage, a figure that is also best in Gaucho history for a single season. She can boast double-digit put-aways in 18 matches this year, including a season-high 21 as UCSB avenged its earlier loss to Idaho. After registering 10-plus kills and hitting above .500 in each match of the season-opening SDSU Invitational, Blackshire earned tournament MVP acclaim and was also an all-tourney selection the following week at the Golden Bear Invitational. The 2003 AVCA honorable mention All-West Region recipient and two-time First Team All-Big West honoree is currently UCSB's record holder with a .349 career hitting percentage.

Olivia Twist
A brick wall hasn't been built in the middle of the Thunderdome court; that's just Olivia Waldowski. The sophomore middle blocker went on a defensive tear down the stretch, averaging 1.73 blocks per game over her last seven matches to boost her season average to 1.45, currently tops in the Big West and fourth-best ever by a Gaucho in a single season. The native of Irvine, Calif., also does considerable damage on the back line, ranking second in the league with 0.55 aces per game. The 2003 Big West Freshman of the Year has taken her all-around game to new heights en route to first-team all-conference acclaim as a sophomore, racking up double-digit put-aways on 15 occasions while hitting a sparkling .341. Waldowski's .875 connection rate in a Sept. 3 win at San Diego State ranks as the fifth-most accurate performance ever by a Gaucho in a single match, while the following weekend Waldowski earned a spot on the Golden Bear Invitational All-Tournament Team.

Queen Janine
Waldowski is not the only UCSB sophomore to kick it up a notch in her second season, as outside hitter Janine Sandell has assumed a full-time starting role and responded with a 4.27 kills per game average that ranks fifth in the Big West. She has paced the UCSB attack or tied for the team lead in 18 different matches this season - including a 24-kill performance at Pacific that were the most by any Gaucho in 2004 and led to her first career Big West Player of the Week award - and has amassed 10 or more put-aways all but four times. Sandell is seeing more time in the back row in 2004, helping her record all of her 12 career double-doubles, including during each of Santa Barbara's last four matches. The London, England native boasts a 3.07 digs per game mark that is second-best on the team and helped her become the fourth member of UCSB's First Team All-Big West quartet.

What About Bethany?
Excellent question...I'm glad I asked myself that. All opposite hitter Bethany Johansen has done is step immediately into a starting role as a freshman and register a .347 hitting percentage, fourth-best in the Big West. During three of her six double-digit kill performances, the San Jose, Calif., native has hit above .600, including an Oct. 31 win at Pacific where she amassed her career high of 13 slams without an error on 19 swings (.684). Johansen - a Big West All-Freshman Team selection - is also the Gauchos' second-leading blocker at 0.97 per game.

The Setting Situation
Why play just one setter when there are two capable quarterbacks on your roster? That seems to be the philosophy of UCSB skipper Kathy Gregory, who has alternated between senior Mari Bell and freshman Ashley Dutro, sometimes in a 6-2 system and sometimes for matches at a time. Bell is obviously the more seasoned of the two as she was a full-time starter in 2003 when she posted the four highest Gaucho assist totals in the rally-scoring era. Her 62 helpers at Idaho on Oct. 9 were the most by a UCSB setter this season, while offensively she posted 17 kills with only one error over the season's final four contests. Dutro joined Johansen on the Big West All-Freshman Team and enjoyed her breakout performance at the Golden Bear Invitational, where she averaged 12.50 assists and 3.17 digs en route to tournament MVP acclaim as UCSB swept Texas A&M and Cal.

Sensational Sophomore Servers
In addition to Waldowski, the Gauchos feature two other sophomores who rank among the Big West's top-10 in service aces per game. Emily Hendrickson's 0.54 aces per game are third-best, while Jamie Garbisch ranks sixth at 0.34. Both have stepped up their serving down the stretch, with Hendrickson averaging 0.91 aces per game over the past six matches and Garbisch serving up a career-high six in the regular season finale at UC Davis on Nov. 21. The sophomore duo also splits time at outside hitter, combining to average 2.55 kills and 4.20 digs per game.

Waiting in the Wings
During the Fall Early Signing Period, Kathy Gregory inked three high school seniors to National Letters of Intent. Lauren McLaughlin (Torrance, Calif.), Brittany San Jose (Long Beach, Calif.) and Jaimarie Sutherland (Fullerton, Calif.) will all join the Gauchos as true freshmen for the 2005 season. McLaughlin, a 5-11 outside hitter at South Torrance High School, recently helped the Spartans capture their first-ever CIF Division II title, slamming home 18 kills in the championship match. She is a two-time First Team All-Bay League selection. A 5-6 libero from Millikan High School, San Jose has enjoyed her greatest success in club and beach volleyball. She helped TCA 17 win gold at the 2004 USA Girls' Junior Olympic Championships, while she placed second on the AVP/AAU Beach Tour in 2003 alongside partner Nicole Vargas. Sutherland, a 6-0 outside hitter at Fullerton Union High School, followed her Freeway League MVP award in 2002 with Second Team All-CIF Division II accolades last season. She finished third on the 2003 AVP/AAU Beach Tour, right behind future teammate San Jose.

On the Horizon
Should the Gauchos emerge victorious in Atlanta, they will advance to Regional Semifinal competition in Minneapolis on Friday, Dec. 10. Fourth-seeded Minnesota - playing on its home court - looms as a potential Sweet 16 opponent for UCSB, or whoever advances from Atlanta. The Regional Finals will also be held in UM's Sports Pavilion on Dec. 11, while the NCAA Final Four is slated for the Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, Calif., from Dec. 16-18.