THOUSAND OAKS—Facing two ranked opponents, UC Santa Cruz women's volleyball came up just short at Day One of the Cal-Lu-fornia Invite.
The Banana Slugs fell 3-1 (23-25, 15-25, 25-23, 11-25) to No. 24 La Verne in the morning. In the evening, they were swept by top-ranked and defending national champions Juniata (22-25, 11-25, 22-25).
The Banana Slugs are now 8-5 on the year.

Match One
UC Santa Cruz trailed 16-11, but started a rally and tied it at 22-all after a combo Block by Kelly Ann Greene and Ashley Magley, and a Leopard error. La Verne recovered and scored three of the next four points to take the set. After a tough second set which put them down 2-0, and trailing the third set quickly 7-2, the Banana Slugs rallied. An 11-2 run gave them the lead at 13-9, finishing the run by a block from Olly Gordon and Gabia Paliulis, and another one by Gordon and Sydney May. They then matched the Leopards point-for-point to take the set and pull within 2-1
A slow start in the fourth set put the Banana Slugs behind and they couldn't rally.
Peyton Tazelaar led UC Santa Cruz with nine kills. Gordon had eight plus four block assists. May finished with 24 assists and three aces.
 
 Match Two
Against the Eagles, UC Santa Cruz stayed close early in the first set. There were six ties before Juniata eventually pulled ahead by seven at 19-12. The Banana Slugs came back and got within two at 23-21 on Drew Bryant's kill. However, the Eagles held off the comeback to take the first set. A slow start held back UC Santa Cruz in the second set and they couldn't rally in time, but Set Three was one of the Banana Slugs' best of the day.

They took a 1-0 lead after a block from Gordon and Bryant. The set stayed close before UC Santa Cruz went up by two at 21-19 on a kill and block by Gordon. The Eagles however rallied and after tying it at 21-all, went on a 4-1 run the rest of the way.
Bryant and Gordon each had four kills and six blocks to lead the Banana Slugs' offense and defense. Alessandra Ponzo had five assists and three aces. UC Santa Cruz closes the tournament on Saturday against Chapman and UT-Dallas.