SANTA CRUZ, CA -- UC Santa Cruz finished its weekend back-to-back-to-back against NAIA opponents as they hosted NAIA #6 Hope International University. The match was a tight affair with UC Santa Cruz coming back from a set down twice, but in the end, it was the Royals who won 3-2. 

Both teams were coming off wins in their last match. The Banana Slugs beat Concordia University of Irvine on Saturday 3-1 and the Royals won 3-0 over UC Merced in Merced on Saturday. 

In the first set, the two teams played an incredibly tight set that needed extra serves to determine the final set score. The Royals won the first set 27-25 and led the match 1-0. The second set was just like the first with both teams needing extra points to finish the set. The Slugs came away with the second set win 28-26 and tied the match at 1-1. In the third set, the two teams played back and forth volleyball but the Royals, who did not commit a single error in the set, won the third set 25-20 and led the match two sets to one. In the fourth set, the Banana Slugs used the strength of fourteen kills for a 25-21 set victory and tied the match at two with a 25-21 victory. The fifth set belonged to the Royals as the visiting team committed only one error during the duration of the set for 15-7 fifth set victory and a 3-2 match victory. 

For UC Santa Cruz, Jake Howard had twenty kills and for Hope International, Dominique Blonski had a match high twenty one kills. Evan Kittle had a match high fifty six assists for UC Santa Cruz and Shane Beatty had fifty three for Hope International. Jake Hurwitz with thirteen digs and Matt Heirakuji had a match high seventeen digs for the Royals.  

The Banana Slugs' next game will be Friday as they take on Santa Barbara City College at West Field House. The first serve is set for 7 pm.