Mark Patton: Matt Jones Delivers the Male as Coach of UCSB Women’s Volleyball Team | Sports

Matt Jones is facing one of those “keeping-up-with-the-Joneses” challenges.

He must live up to the legend of a woman known as “The Queen” of their sport when he embarks this week on a pivotal third season as the first male head coach in the 54-year history of UC Santa Barbara women’s volleyball.

The uber-dynamic Kathy Gregory guided the Gauchos for 38 of those seasons.

“I hope I don’t blow it,” Jones replied with a smile when asked about being UCSB’s male pioneer in the women’s game.

The three women who coached the Gauchos during their first 50 years of existence all enjoyed varying degrees of success.

Chris Accornero, the “founding mother” of the program, guided UCSB to three consecutive AIAW Final Fours (1972 to 1974) during the sport’s pre-NCAA era.

Gregory kept the ball rolling from 1975 to 2012 by leading the Gauchos to 882 victories and 27 NCAA tournaments. She was voted National Coach of the Year in 1993.

Nicole Lantagne Welch capped her decade as Gregory’s successor with three consecutive 20-plus-win seasons.

Jones, who served as Welch’s assistant for six years, inherited a “senior-heavy” roster when he took over in 2023.

“I was the most spoiled first-year head coach ever,” he said.

Jones’ 2023 Gauchos compiled records of 27-5 overall and 17-1 in the Big West Conference to win their first league championship since Welch’s first season of 2013.

But Jones has been rebuilding his roster ever since.

He leaned heavily last year on Big West Freshman of the Year Eva Travis, a springy outside hitter from Laguna Beach High School.

Travis took 1,012 swings while recording a team-best 378 kills for a UCSB team that went 14-16 overall and 10-8 in conference.

“We’d obviously like to have a more balanced attack this year,” Jones said.

He believes he’s gotten it by recruiting five highly regarded high school players as well as a transfer from Iowa State.

Jones will see how well they mesh with his eight returning players when UCSB opens its season with matches at San José State at 3 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday.

“I think we’re going in the right direction,” he said.

Coach Class

Jones, a prolific outside hitter at both La Jolla High School and Harvard University, wasn’t sure where volleyball would take him after playing a season overseas in Luxembourg.

“I started thinking out loud, ‘OK, what else can I do?’” he said.

Harvard coach Brian Baise heard him. He alerted his former captain about an opening for a men’s volleyball coach at Santa Barbara City College.

“I was like 23 at the time,” Jones said. “I’d coached club but didn’t have a huge résumé.

“I applied mostly for the interview reps, to be honest.”

He was surprised when SBCC offered him the job.

Jones coached the Vaqueros for three seasons, from 2014 to 2016.

He augmented his paycheck by administering the boys’ program at the Santa Barbara Volleyball Club and coaching its 18-and-under team.

“Once I was in year two at City College, it became more serious for me,” Jones said.

“I was like, ‘This is the career I want to commit to.’”

Baise brought him back to Harvard as his assistant for one season.

The move became even more transformational when Jones was asked to also assist the Crimson’s women’s team.

“That was my first toe in the water, working with a women’s team,” he said.

It didn’t take long for Jones — a mathematics major while at Harvard — to do the math on job opportunities.

Only 28 colleges play Division I men’s volleyball … while 334 sponsor women’s volleyball.

“I could see where there was a very realistic chance that I could end up on that side,” he said.

It happened just a year later when Welch brought him back to Santa Barbara as her new Gaucho assistant.

He found the transition to women’s volleyball to be fairly seamless.

“Teaching the game isn’t wildly different, at least the way we do it,” Jones began.

“Women in groups are different than men in groups stereotypically, so there are definitely differences there,” he added. “Just team management and player management and what they value and those kinds of things.

“But the individual piece is more similar.

“There is a range of personalities, and you have to be able to mold and communicate and connect with all different personality types. That doesn’t really change.”

He hopes his coaching position never changes.

The Santa Barbara roots for the family of his wife, Alyssa, go back to 1878.

The next branch of that family tree sprouted when their daughter, Devyn Ryann Jones, was born barely two months before dad’s first match as UCSB’s head coach in 2023.

“My goal is to stay here forever,” he said.

Depth Charges

Jones is fast-forwarding to the future with this year’s freshman class.

“All five are definitely in the mix,” he said. “They’re getting up to speed very quickly.”

They add to a front line that returns three seniors — 6-foot middle Layanna Green, 6-2 outside Sophie Reavis and 6-2 middle Grace Wuischpard — as well as 6-2 sophomore outside Emma McDermott.

Also back are sophomore defensive specialists Cortni Youngblood and Bianca Nistor, as well as setters Michelle Zhao, a redshirt senior, and junior Milan Rex.

The roster includes five others who redshirted last year: setter Katrina Catalan; middles Sandrea Thomas, Caroline Foraker and Anna Boatner; and outside hitter Kate Martin.

“It felt like we had a pretty good spring with this group, and they’ve grown and matured quite a bit,” Jones said.

“We’re still going to be on the younger side, but we’re also more experienced and ready to go this year.”

Travis, an All-Big West first-team selection last year, was a slam-dunk selection to the preseason all-league team that the coaches announced last week.

The Gauchos — picked fourth in the coaches’ preseason poll behind Hawai‘i, Cal Poly and UC Davis — showed their potential on Saturday by defeating UCLA 3-2 in an exhibition match.

Travis flew a little under the radar as a 5-foot-10 high school recruit — but she gained plenty of attention last season with how high she flew above the net.

“She’s considered to be a little undersized for our level, but she’s very strong and super-explosive,” Jones said. “She flies off the floor and has a real live arm.

“She also broad jumps well, so she’s really good coming out of the back row.”

Travis’ passing and blocking have also developed into assets, he added.

Jones never worried about her cashing in a lucrative NIL (name, image and likeness) offer by transferring to a power-conference school like other young, midmajor stars.

“I think she loves it here,” he said. “She’s bought into what we’re doing here, so it wasn’t a real major concern for us.

“We want to keep all of our kids. We want to have as consistent a team and program as we can have, and having Eva is a piece of that.”

He did lose Harper Hall, a freshman setter who led the Gauchos in both assists and digs last year.

The native of Highland Park, Texas, was lured away by Oklahoma head coach Aaron Mansfield, a former UCSB All-American and assistant coach.

Frosh Approach

Jones recruited 5-foot-6 freshman dynamo Ayva Ostovar to fill Hall’s shoes.

She led Mater Dei High to a pair of California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section Division 1 championships as well as to the 2023 MaxPreps High School national championship.

“We’ve got a bunch of good arms to go with Ayva, who’s going to be a good setter in our 6-2 (two-setter) system,” Jones said. “They all fit the mold of what we’re trying to do here.

“With the 6-2, we want to find undersized, undervalued setters that we see great value in … who can run our fast offense and locate and be great defenders.”

Jones searched the globe to rearm his offensive attack.

The freshman recruits include 6-2 outside hitter Ema Petkovic from Serbia; 5-11 outside hitter Gabi Martinez from Katy, Texas; 6-1 opposite Avery Gibbs from Loveland, Colorado; and 6-1 middle Jordyn Johnson from Saint Paul, Minnesota.

“(These) front-row players have a chance to make an impact for us for three or four years, so it’s real exciting,” Jones said.

Kiersten Schmitt, a 6-2 outside hitter, adds another weapon after having played at Iowa State for the last two seasons.

“She’s a dynamic athlete who plays high above the net,” Jones said.

Schmitt got the chance to bond with the team during the spring training season.

Team chemistry, however, began percolating even before that.

“We’ve talked about captains since January,” Jones said. “This team opted to go all hands on deck with no official captain’s model … and it’s actually worked really well.

“I think all of our seniors have really bought into that culture piece — using their voice and doing the little things around the gym and locker room — to really drive the boat.”

As an old English saying (sort of) goes, man may coach them from sun to sun, but the women’s work is never done.