In front of nearly 400 volleyball enthusiasts at Kaiser Permanente Arena, UC Santa Cruz held their own against Division I Stanford at Kaiser Permanente Arena, but the Cardinal exploited their size advantage in handing the Banana Slugs a 21-25, 22-25, 20-25 loss.
It was the first regular-season meeting between the two NorCal neighbors in Santa Cruz since 2008, and just the fourth time in the series history the Cardinal have come down the 17 to face the Banana Slugs. UC Santa Cruz goes to 7-1 on the year. Stanford, the seventh-ranked team in Division I, improved to 6-1.
The opening set was close, with the Cardinal unable to shake the Banana Slugs. However, a 4-0 run midway through the set gave Stanford their biggest lead at 17-12. Two Cardinal attack errors got UC Santa Cruz to within 21-19 before Stanford finished with a 4-2 run to take the set.
Set Two started with two ties and UC Santa Cruz hanging close until a 3-0 Stanford run once again gave the visitors a five-point lead at 9-4. UC Santa Cruz crept back. Two kills each from Santa Cruz natives
Colton Jeffrey and
Leo Tuncer gave the Banana Slugs a 5-2 run that got them within 21-20 before a 4-2 run by Stanford gave them the set.
The Cardinal opened Set Three with a 17-7 lead before the Banana Slugs found their footing. Another kill by Tuncer and an ace from fellow First Year
Riley Norman started a 3-0 run. Later, some great hitting and digging by UC Santa Cruz forced Stanford out of system, providing a 4-0 run that put UC Santa Cruz within 23-18 before Stanford finally got a key kill that ended the match and finished the sweep.
The difference in the match was blocking, as the taller Cardinal had an 11-1 block advantage. UC Santa Cruz hit .096 for the match while the Cardinal hit .329. Tuncer led UC Santa Cruz with 10 kills, while Jeffrey had nine, along with eight digs.
Mohan Duvvuri finished with 16 assists. Alex Rottman led the Cardinal with 15 kills.
UC Santa Cruz heads on the road for the first time next week for a seven-match Midwest roadtrip, starting on Thursday at Division III top-ranked Carthage.
