This Thursday afternoon, the No. 14 UC Santa Cruz men's volleyball team went up against the UC Merced Bobcats, with the Banana Slugs sweeping the visitors 25-23, 25-22, 31-29.
The first game initially started with Merced trailing behind 6-0 with one kill made by Trevor Jackson and three consecutive aces by Riley Norman. The UC Merced team however quickly bounced back after those 6 points, one of their bench players did a backflip out of excitement. The first game Santa Cruz held the lead by five points at 24-19 but Merced was holding on to the Banana Slugs' tail towards the end. A kill for the Bobcats made by Ryan Gilgore made it 24-20. Not long after, a Merced ace made it 24-21. After the 4-0 Bobcat run however Noy Fisher made a kill closing the first game for UC Santa Cruz.

The second game, the Merced team knew what to expect from the Slugs. A service error gave the Bobcats a one-point lead to start. The Bobcats had the lead at the beginning of the game, but at 11-9, the Banana Slugs started a run and managed to catch up to the Bobcats at 16-16 . Each team scored points after one another, but eventually the Bobcats had the lead 22-21. That's when Norman and Colby Hurdle brought home the winning points with a 4-0 run allowing the Banana Slugs winning the second game as well. Norman had two kills and Hurdle had two aces during the run.
 
With the Bobcats still pushing to win the third game the stakes were high. The Bobcats maintained the lead at 5-3 but the Banana Slugs caught up to them eventually passing them at 8-5 with an ace made by Colton Jeffrey. The Banana Slugs managed to hold the lead until Merced caught up tying the game 17-17. The Slugs did not let that slide however, taking the lead 21-19.  In volleyball,  the team has to score 25 points to win a set, but also two back to back points to officially win. Both teams held their stance however. Both teams made amazing saves and serves that the Banana Slugs had difficulty making those two back to back points. A kill made by Riley Norman, another made by Noy Fisher and a block by Jackson and Jeffrey gave the Banana Slugs some hope to finally win the last game and take the match.
 
Fisher led the Banana Slugs with 16 kills while Norman added 10 kills plus a team-high three aces. UC Santa Cruz next plays Simpson University Friday afternoon at the West.