PROVIDENCE (1-25) UC Santa Cruz finished their East Coast jaunt with another 1-1 split at the Johnson & Wales Tournament.

The Banana Slugs played nine sets in a row Saturday, defeating Baruch 3-2 (26-24, 18-25, 25-21, 18-25, 15-12) before falling to Stevens Institute of Technology 3-1 (22-25, 25-20, 20-25,17-25) in a rematch of last year's NCAA Semifinal.

The Banana Slugs are now 7-6 on the season.

In a wild first match, UC Santa Cruz twice saw the Bearcats comeback and tie the match through excellent hitting. That carried through to the fifth set, where Baruch was up 6-2 and 9-6 before the Banana Slugs closed strong. With the set tied at 12, UCSC took the lead on a ball-handling error before kills from Tennessee Fulks and Ian Dunipace finished the set and match for the win.

Kyle Lutz led the Banana Slugs with 16 kills and .467 hitting. Phillip Grote added 11 kills and Dunipace finished with a season-high 10. Max Mednick had 15 digs and Sam Wittert had 11 to go along with 48 assists.

Against Stevens, UCSC hit .333 in both the first two sets to set up a 1-1 tie. However, Stevens closed with hard hitting to take the last two sets for the win. Stevens (4-0) hit .360 overall to UCSC's .242.

Mednick led the Banana Slugs with 10 kills against the Ducks.He finished the weekend with 45 total kills and a .294 hitting percentage. The Banana Slugs return to California next weekend when they play at Cal Lutheran's Invite.