UC Santa Cruz opened the 2022 season with a pair of tough losses in their annual Slug Slam Tournament.
In the first match, the Banana Slugs couldn't keep up their hot start in a 3-1 loss (25-13, 21-25, 22-25, 20-25) to Westcliff. The team reconvened in the afternoon and went five sets with Cal Lutheran before falling 3-2 (19-25, 27-25, 13-25, 25-21, 8-15).
In the opening match, the Banana Slugs came out hitting well to quickly take the first set. However, UCSC only hit .125 the final three sets as the visiting Warriors closed each set with late runs to escape with the season opening win. Colton Jeffrey had a team-high 18 kills in his college debut.
In the afternoon match with West Coast rivals Cal Lutheran, the Banana Slugs lost the first set but won the second after staving off set point and scoring the last three points. The Kingsmen built a big lead in the third set that UCSC could not recover from. However, the Banana Slugs opened the fourth set with a 16-11 lead before closing on a 3-1 run to tie the match, courtesy of a pair of kills from Aaron Fox and one from Chicory Roth.
In the final set, UCSC opened with a 4-2 lead before CLU responded with a 7-2 run to take the lead for good. UCSC got back to within 2 at 9-7 before the visitors closed with a 6-1 run to finish the match.
Fox and Roth each had 15 kills to lead the Banana Slugs offense. Sophomore Mohan Duvvuri led UCSC with 41 assists and a career-high 18 digs.
Overall, CLU outhit UCSC .253 to .134, including .429 to .125 in the final set.
Slug Slam continues on Sunday with the Banana Slugs facing East Coast schools SUNY New Paltz and Stevenson.