UC Santa Cruz men's volleyball opened the 2023 Slug Slam with a pair of sweeps over Midwest opponents.
UC Santa Cruz handled North Park 25-18, 25-23, 25-21 in the  morning match before overwhelming Edgewood in the afternoon 25-12, 25-18, 25-13 to improve to 3-0 on the young season.
Against North Park, the Banana Slugs took the lead for good in the first set after a 10-1 run gave them the lead at 15-7. Set Two was closer, with 11 ties before the Banana Slugs scored the last two points courtesy of a kill and ace from Riley Norman. Set Three was also evenly played before the Banana Slugs went on spurts to finish the sweep, once again finishing the contest on an ace from Norman.
Both teams hit about the same, with the Vikings finishing with a slight advantage at .192 to UC Santa Cruz's .180. The big difference was the serving, where UC Santa Cruz had a 10-2 advantage in aces. Norman had a team-high of four aces along with leading the Banana Slugs with 14 kills. Colton Jeffrey added seven kills. Maxwell Mednick had 13 digs.

In the second match, the Banana Slugs outhit the Eagles .317 to -.127 and had a 10.5–3 block advantage. Norman led the Banana Slugs with seven kills and Noy Fisher added six. Ethan Makishima had six total blocks. Leo Tuncer had 14 assists and two aces.
 
Slug Slam continues on Saturday with all matches held at the Kaiser Permanente Arena. The Banana Slugs face the Illinois Wesleyan Titans at 10:45am.