THOUSAND OAKS - In their opener at the CLU Invite, No. 12 UC Santa Cruz fell to No.11 North Central 3-0 (21-25, 23-25, 16-25).
The Cardinals (8-2) hit. 395 in the match while the Banana Slugs hit just .174 to fall to 13-5.

In Set One, it was tied 5-5 before an 8-2 NCC run made it 13-7 and forced a UC Santa Cruz timeout. UC Santa Cruz got back within 19-17 before the Cardinals closed out the set to go up 1-0.
Set Two had 14 ties before a kill and attack error gave NCC a 21-19 lead, and they matched UC Santa Cruz point-for-point to take the set.
Set Three was tied 7-7 but NCC went on a 11-4 run for an 18-11 run tot take control. UC Santa Cruz fended off four match points before another kill gave the Cardinals the win.
Noy Fisher led all players with 14 kills and Colton Jeffrey added 9. Mohan Duvvuri had team-highs of 31 assists and six digs. The Banana Slugs have two more Illinois opponents on Saturday, beginning with Benedictine at 12 noon.