Box Score PASADENA- Nineteenth-ranked UC Santa Cruz used almost their full bench as they swept Caltech to open their first roadtrip of the season.
The Banana Slugs improved to 6-0 after the 25-18, 25-18, 25-17 win.

UC Santa Cruz struggled early, but used an 11-5 run to take a 17-10 lead. They led by as much as 9 at 21-12 thanks to Peyton Tazelaar's kill and held off Caltech's comeback to comfortably take the set. Set Two was close as well with eight ties before UC Santa Cruz finished on a 10-3 run to win the set on Gabia Paliulis's kill.

The Beavers were ahead most of the third set, but a bad serve started a 5-0 run that gave the Banana Slugs the lead for good at 17-14. UC Santa Cruz finished with the last three points-kills by Claudia Moeller and Makena Heidemann sandwiched around Saku Yoshioka's ace.

Fifteen Banana Slugs played in the match, with Paliulis leading UC Santa Cruz with 9 kills and 2 block assists. Sydney Ahrendt added 7 kills, Emily Pasion had a team-high 18 digs and Sydney May had a double-double of 22 assists and 16 digs.

UC Santa Cruz finished the match hitting .314 while holding their hosts to just .028.  The Banana Slugs also had a 6-4 advantage in aces and 5-0 in total blocks.

The Banana Slugs continue their roadtrip on Friday when they play two matches in La Verne, starting with Pomona-Pitzer at 4:00pm.