SANTA CRUZ (10-26) – UC Santa Cruz returned home for their home match of the 2019 season as they hosted NCAA Division II member Academy of Art University. The Urban Knights defeated the Banana Slugs 3-2. 

The Banana Slugs' four seniors – Alexandria Everett, Timolin Kepon, Cassie Nickel and Alana Susbilla – were honored in a post-match ceremony. 

 

In the first set, the Urban Knights would start the set on a 9-4 run and would never relinquish the lead. In the second set, the two teams would trade points for the first ten serves. The Banana Slugs would take the lead, at 6-5, on a Maddie Fowler kill. From that point, the Urban Knights would go on a 7-2 run, capped by an Ashley Pawlak kill, to take their largest lead of the set at 12-8. The Banana Slugs would work their way back into the set and would tie the set at 19-19 on a Fowler kill. The two teams

would trade points, and the lead, for the next ten serves before the Banana Slugs scored the final two points of the set on a pair of Claire Okerlund kills to win the second set 26-24 and tied the match at 1-1.

 

In the third set, the two teams would trade the lead back and forth for the majority of the set. The Urban Knights would score the final four points of the set to win 25-21 and take a 2-1 lead in the match. In the fourth set, the teams traded points for the first twenty-four serves. The Banana Slugs would take the lead for good at 13-12 on an Okerlund kill. The Banana Slugs would win the fourth set 25-21 and tie the match.

 

In the fifth set, the Banana Slugs scored the first two points of the set. The Urban Knights would score the next four points of the set to take the lead for good and eventually win 15-10 and the match 3-2.

 

For UC Santa Cruz, Okerlund had a match-high eighteen kills and for Academy of Art, Mariana Figueroa and Pawlak had thirteen kills apiece. Susbilla had twenty-eight assists for UC Santa Cruz and led the Banana Slugs with twenty-three digs.

For the match, UC Santa Cruz had a .137 hitting percentage with the best percentage coming in the second set at .286 while Academy of Art had a .210 hitting percentage with the best percentage coming in the fifth set at .435. The Urban Knights had eleven fewer attack errors (34-23) than did the Banana Slugs.

 

The next match for the Banana Slugs will be November 2nd as they take on University of Valley Forge in the American Collegiate Athletic Association Volleyball Championship.  First serve is set for 11 am.