SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton women's volleyball dropped its road match. 3-0, to UC Santa Barbara (16-25, 12-25, 11-25) on Friday night. The Titans move to 7-12 overall and 2-5 in Big West play, while the Gauchos improved to 13-6 and 5-2 in conference. 

Lira Pukl Verdel led the Titans with seven kills, while Kahea Carvalho dished out a team-high seven assists. Mia Feldhaus recorded a team-best six digs, and Smith added two blocks. As a team, Cal State Fullerton finished with 18 kills, 21 digs, and three blocks.

UC Santa Barbara controlled the first set through its entirety, jumping to an early 4-1 lead before extending their lead to 12-6. The Titans answered with three straight points after calling for a timeout while trailing 20-11. Ketesia Hall and Hannah Hass combined at the net to earn Fullerton their 15th point on a block assist, but 10 attack errors allowed the Gauchos to take the set 25-16.

The Titans battled through a tight start in the second set, trading points on kills from Marisa Nakata and Pukl Verdel, but UC Santa Barbara's front line took control midway through. The Gauchos hit .500 to Fullerton's .000 in the frame and tallied five blocks to win 25-12.

Kills from Elon Smith, Wiles, and Pukl Verdel, along with a service ace from Nakata kept the Titans within reach of the Gauchos. However, UCSB continued its strong attack, closing the match 25-11 to complete the sweep.

The Titans continue their road trip Saturday at Cal Poly, with the first serve set for 2 p.m.

SUPPORT THE TITANS!
Fans can purchase tickets for various Cal State Fullerton athletic events by visiting FullertonTitansTickets.com. The Athletic Ticket Office can also be contacted by phone at 657-278-2783 or by email at athletictixs@fullerton.edu. The Ticket Office is located at the Titan Baseball ticketing office and is open from 10 am – 4 pm PT, Monday – Friday. 

FOLLOW THE TITANS!
Fans can keep up with the latest in Titan Athletics by following us on Facebook (Facebook/FullertonTitans), X (@FullertonTitans) Instagram (@FullertonTitans), YouTube (FullertonTitansAthletics) and TikTok (@FullertonTitans). In addition, the softball team has established its own Instagram (@Fullerton_WVB) and X accounts (@Fullerton_WVB).

WATCH THE TITANS ON ESPN+
Titans fans can now watch every home event exclusively on ESPN+. Cal State Fullerton has built a top-tier production studio to give the viewers an ESPN quality production for all games at Titan Stadium. Additionally, all schools in the Big West Conference are committed to producing ESPN quality streams which will allow fans to watch the Titans on ESPN+ for all road conference games.