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Tarleton State University Athletics

PetersonDinhUCSBRecap
2
Tarleton St. TSU 0-1,0-0 WAC
3
Winner UC Santa Barbara UCSB 1-0,0-0 Big West
Tarleton St. TSU
0-1,0-0 WAC
2
Final
3
UC Santa Barbara UCSB
1-0,0-0 Big West
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 5 F
Tarleton St. TSU 25 25 15 22 9 (2)
UC Santa Barbara UCSB 22 22 25 25 15 (3)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball | | Grant Cohen

UCSB completes comeback to defeat Tarleton State Volleyball in 2026 opener

TUCSON, Ariz. – Tarleton State Volleyball took an early 2-0 lead in its 2026 season opener, UC Santa Barbara completed the comeback to defeat the Texans 3-2 (25-22, 25-22, 15-25, 22-25, 9-15) on Friday at the McKale Center in day one of the Wildcat Classic. 

Tarleton State held UCSB to a combined .146 attacking percentage through the first two sets. UCSB, however, had 18 kills and hit .368 in the fourth set and capped off the fifth set with a .286 attacking percentage to complete the reverse sweep. 

Opposite Breannah Peterson led the Texans with 12 kills to go with an attacking percentage of .375 and outside hitter/opposite Madison Rice-Locket added 10 kills on Friday. Setter Alexis Massey matched a career-high 23 assists while collecting her first double-double as a Texan with 10 digs. Libero Leddy Rae Guinn also added 12 digs. 

Tarleton State quickly went to work, converting over 66% of its attacks to score seven of the first eight points in the first set. The Texans maintained control in the first set, with a service ace by outside hitter/opposite Madison Rice-Locket and blocks from outside hitters LaNeah Lara and Madison Frank giving the Texans a 10-point lead. 

UCSB, however, answered with four straight points before rallying another three consecutive points to make it an 18-15 set. Two kills from Rice-Locket and a kill from Peterson made it a set point for the Texans, with Tarleton State closing set one out victorious. 

Three straight service aces allowed the Texans to take an early lead in set two, but UCSB got four of the next five points to tie up the score at 11. After two kills from UCSB's Gabi Martinez, the Texans went on a 5-0 scoring run to go back on top. A kill and a service ace from UCSB, however, made it a one-point set. 

Tarleton State took advantage of three UCSB attack errors and made it a set point thanks to a kill from LaNeah Lara. The Texans finished the job in set two, with Massey coming up with the kill to put Tarleton State ahead 2-0. 

After the Texans scored the first three points of the third set, the Gauchos rallied a pair of 6-0 scoring runs to take control. UCSB finished set three by scoring three of the final four points to take the third set by 10 points. 

With both teams going back-and-forth in the fourth set, UCSB went on a 5-0 scoring run to grasp the advantage. Having a seven-point lead going into a set point, the Texans responded with five consecutive points to keep set four alive. UCSB, however, got the final kill needed to take set four and force a fifth and final set. 

Tarleton State started strong in the fifth set with an early 5-0 scoring run, but UCSB answered with five straight points of its own. The Gauchos scored six of the final seven points of the match to complete the reverse sweep. 

Tarleton State continues the Wildcat Classic by taking on host school, Arizona, on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT at the McKale Center. 
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