Septemeber 13, 2009
Another Great Week for Slug Volleyball

SANTA CRUZ, CA --It was another great week for UCSC Women's Volleyball finishing 4-1 for the week bringing the season record to 7-2.

            The Slugs won their first contest at home against NAIA Pacific Union College despite an intimidating front line of athletes over six feet tall, including their 6'4 setter, Tiffany Jacobson. The Slugs won easily in 3 games (25-10, 25-19, 25-15) in front of their home crowd. Senior Setter Amy Knight did a great job of running the offense evenly spreading out the kills between hitters Katie English (7 kills), Jackie McCrory (6 kills), Ginger Berryman (5 kills), Lauren Nixon (5 kills), Roxy White (5 kills) and Jen Meyers (4 kills).
            The Slugs then traveled to Cal Lutheran to compete against four West Region opponents in the Ca-Lu-Fornia Invitational. Up first against the Slugs was Whitman College who fell to UCSC in 3 games (25-16, 25-11, 25-17). Leading for the Slugs was Senior Outside Hitter Katie English who tallied 12 kills, 7 digs and 2 aces and 1 block.
            UCSC then battled with Pacific University of Oregon who took the Slugs to five games (25-16, 22-25, 18-25, 25-23, 15-9) but came up short in the fifth. Once again it was Senior Outside Hitter Katie English who led with 18 kills, 11 digs and 4 aces. The Slugs played a great defensive game led by Senior Libero Dana Johnson with 29 digs, Senior Defensive Specialist Sophie Manoukian who had a career high 19 digs and Senior Defensive Specialist Rosie Borchert who also had a season high with 14 digs.
            Day two at Cal Lu started off against #6 Nationally Ranked University of La Verne who finished #2 at Nationals in 2008. The Slugs dropped the first two sets to the Leopards (16-25, 14-25) but then rallied back to win the next two sets (25-17, 25-16) to force a game five only to lose the match 12-15. An outstanding performance by Senior Outside Hitter Katie English who had a season-high 27 kills and 15 digs for the match. Senior Outside Hitter Jackie McCrory also having a good showing with 12 kills, 3 blocks and 2 digs. Dana Johnson led the defense with 27 digs, 1 kill and 1 ace.
            The last match up for the Slugs was against Linfield College. UCSC started out slow dropping the first game 22-25, then taking the next two sets 25-19, 25-21. In game 4, the Slugs lacked energy and couldn't pull out the win until firing up in the fifth game to take home the victory with a landslide score of 15-6. Senior Opposite Roxy White led the Slugs with 14 kills, 3 digs, 2 blocks and 1 assist and Senior Libero Dana Johnson joined the AVCA 30 Dig Club after coming close in the two previous matches and finally succeeding with 34 digs against Linfield to end the weekend.
UCSC plays at cross-town rival, Bethany College on Wednesday, September 16th at 7pm and at Holy Names on Friday at 7pm and WIlliam Jessup on Saturday at 7pm