No. 19 UC Santa Cruz opened the 2024 Slug Slam with a 3-1 loss (24-26, 25-20, 21-25, 30-32) to  No.10 New York University Friday afternoon.

Facing set point after hitting negative, UC Santa Cruz rallied to tie it at 24-all after a kill by Riley Norman and a triple block by Leo Tuncer, Kyle Ownbey and Noy Fisher. The Violets however took the set with the next two points.

UC Santa Cruz got going in the second set, taking the lead for good on a 6-1 run after Tuncer's ace made it 17-12 and cruising to winning the set by five.. The Violets took the third set, and that set up a wild fourth set which had seven ties before the Violets had three consecutive points to go to match point. UC Santa Cruz answered with a 3-0 run to tie it, highlighted by a kill from Tuncer and another triple block from Fisher, Norman and Ownbey.

Six more ties followed to keep the raucous West Field House crowd entertained before NYU finally got the two points they needed for the win.
Norman finished with a match-high 14 kills. Fisher, Tuncer and Ownbey each had two aces.
First Year setters Andrew Pak and Logan Taylor had 20 and 19 assists respectively.

The Banana Slugs, now 1-3, regroup for a rematch with sixth-ranked Cal Lutheran on Saturday evening.