Box Score RIVER FOREST, ILLINOIS (4-2) -- UC Santa Cruz men's volleyball were edged by Dominican 3-2 on Sunday (25-19, 20-25, 25-22, 20-25, 11-15).
In the first set, the Banana Slugs took the lead at 20-17 on Leo Tuncer's kill after two great digs by Riley Norman. That gave them the momentum to eventually take the set, closing with a block by Tuncer and Ethan Makishima and another Tuncer kill. Set Two however was all Dominican, as the hosts never trailed and held off the Banana Slugs at the end to tie the match. The Banana Slugs found their offense again in the third set, closing a 4-1 run with a Tennessee Fulks kill to take a 20-17 lead and winning the set on another block by Tuncer and Makishima. However, Dominican responded again, hitting .526 and blocking UC Santa Cruz six times to tie the match.
In the pivotal fifth set, Dominican went up 12-8 before All-American candidate Colton Jeffrey's kill started a 3-0 run that got UC Santa Cruz within 12-11. However, Dominican scored all the remaining points to come out with the victory.
Jeffrey led UC Santa Cruz with a season-high 19 kills from hitting .424 plus six digs. Fulks, an Illinois native in his final regular season match, added 10 kills and five digs. Mohan Duvvuri had 22 assists. Colby Hurdle and Noy Fisher each had a service ace.
UC Santa Cruz finish the regular season at 21-12 and await the NCAA Tournament announcement in two weeks.