AURORA, ILLINOIS (3/31)-- UC Santa Cruz men's volleyball opened their Illinois road trip with two touch matches at Aurora University. The Banana Slugs fell 3-1 to Loras of Iowa (11-25, 23-25, 27-25, 16-25) before rallying for a reverse sweep over Aurora in five sets (22-25, 23-25, 25-16, 25-19, 15-12).
The Banana Slugs won their 20th game of the season and are 20-11 overall.
Match 1
The Banana Slugs couldn't get going in the first set. However they found their offense in Set Two. There were 14 ties before Loras got the last two points to take the set.
There were six ties in Set Three, but Ethan Makishima had a kill and Trevor Jackson had a block to give the Banana Slugs set point at 24-21. However, Loras answered with three straight kills to make it 24-all. Another kill gave them Match Point but the service went awry. Another Loras attack error made it UC Santa Cruz set point before Leo Tuncer's kill gave UC Santa Cruz the win and put them back into the match.
Jackson had a kill to give the Banana Slugs a brief 4-2 lead in Set Four before Loras rallied to tie it at 5-all. Two more ties followed before a 6-1 Loras run gave Loras the lead for good at 16-11 before they finished 9-5 the rest of the way to take the set and match.
 
Tuncer led UC Santa Cruz with 13 kills and 9 digs. Colton Jeffrey added 10 kills. Mohan Duvvuri had 32 assists.
Match 2
After a late start due to the arena being evacuated for weather, the host Spartans survived the first set. After Tennessee Fulks had an ace to tie it at 21-all, Aurora closed on a 4-1 run to take the set. Set Two had Aurora lead by as much as 22-15, but the Banana Slugs rallied. Fisher's kill began a 6-1 run that got UC Santa Cruz within 23-21 and forced the Spartans to take a timeout. The Banana Slugs got a block from Jeffrey and Zachary Thompson to get within 1 but the Spartans found two of the next three points to hold off the comeback and go up 2-0
The Banana Slugs once again found their momentum in Set Three. After it was tied 6-all, another Fulks ace capped a 5-1 run that gave UC Santa Cruz the lead for good at 11-7. UC Santa Cruz led by as much as nine when a block by Fisher and Jeffrey made it 23-14 before they put the set away to force a fourth set. There were seven ties in Set Four, but a 6-1 run highlighted by a pair of aces by Noy Fisher gave UC Santa Cruz a 15-10 lead. The Banana Slugs then matched the hosts point-for-point down the stretch to take the set and tie the match.
 In the deciding set, UC Santa Cruz opened a 3-0 lead, topped by Colby Hurdle's ace. A kill from Jeffrey and consecutive blocks from Tuncer /Thompson and Fulks made it 7-2 and forced a Spartan timeout. The Spartans got back to within 9-5 and then tied it at 10-all before the Banana Slugs closed on a 5-2 run, closing on Jeffrey's kill to finish the comeback.
 
Jeffrey finished with team-highs of 15 kills on .538 hitting and 11 digs. Fulks and Fisher each had 10 kills and three aces. Riley Norman added 10 digs stepping in as Libero. Overall, UC Santa Cruz outhit the Spartans .363 to .263 and served nine aces to the hosts' five.
UC Santa Cruz takes on Concordia of Chicago tomorrow at 12:30 Pacific time.