Slug Volleyball Takes Down Whittier And Redlands
The UCSC Women's Volleyball Team traveled to the Claremont Colleges this weekend to compete in the Pacific Coast Classic Tournament. First up was North Central, a very solid team from Illinois, who defeated the Slugs in 3 (27-30, 24-30, 23-30). Leading the team was Junior Outside Hitter Megan Wisniewski who racked up 10 kills and 4 blocks.
Next up the Slugs battled DIII Whittier College coming out on top in 4 games (30-26, 27-30, 32-30, 30-19). Outstanding performances from Freshman Middle Blocker Ariel Ajagu who hit .417 with 12 kills, 8 blocks and 2 aces and Senior Gillian McGraw who racked up 13 kills, 5 blocks and 1 ace in only 2 games of the match.
On Saturday, the Slugs faced the University of Redlands (ranked #17 in Div III) and played a near perfect match upsetting the Redlands Bulldogs in 4 games (30-22, 25-30, 30-24, 30-25). Contributing to the big win offensively was Junior Middle Blocker Daniella Reagan who led with 14 kills and 7 blocks and Senior Outside Hitter Gillian McGraw who also had 14 kills. Quarterbacking the defense for the Slugs was Junior Libero Melinda Tom who had 33 digs, followed by Junior Defensive Specialist Sophie Manoukian with 23 digs and Sophomore Setter Amy Knight with 22 digs.
Immediately following the victory over Redlands, the Slugs had to play back to back matches and face Principia College. Putting up a strong fight but coming up just short of a win, the Slugs lost the battle in 5 exciting games which lasted over 2 and a half hours (30-26, 22-30, 30-27, 33-35, 11-15). This time it was Senior Outside Hitter Nicole Payne who had a season-high 21 kills, 19 digs and 3 aces for the match. Once again strong performances from Middle Blockers Daniella Reagan and Ariel Ajagu who each had 14 kills. Despite a good fight, it was not enough to stop 6'2 Outside Hitter Christina Speer from Principia who had an astounding 32 kills (hitting .424) and 23 digs on the match.
The Slugs finish the weekend 5 and 3 and will take on NCAA Division II CSU Monterey Bay on Wednesday, September 12th and then head down south for the Cal Lutheran/Redlands Tournament.
