Box Score UC Santa Cruz men's volleyball lost to Menlo College 3-2 (25-22, 18-25, 20-25, 25-21, 10-15) at the West Field House.
 
The first set started with the Oaks in the lead with a pair of kills until the Banana Slugs started bringing the heat. Dylan Foreman made an outstanding kill helping the Banana Slugs secure the lead (14-12). The defense had high intensity with a double block from Andrew Pak and Ethan Makishima (18-16). Pak also had an amazing save to help Leo Tuncer gain that kill (24-21). The set ended with the Banana Slugs winning 25-22.
 
The Oaks started in the lead but the Banana Slugs stayed with them with a kill from Pak (2-2). The Banana Slugs and Oaks had 7 ties throughout the second set. However, the Oaks secured this set with many attack errors winning 18-25.
 
The third set started with the Banana Slugs getting the first point off of a bad serve from the Oaks (1-0). The Banana Slugs brought the intensity, bringing them to the lead with back-to-back kills from Tuncer making the score 8-6. Riley Norman came through with a kill helping the Banana Slugs recover from a deficit (10-11). However, the Oaks obtained the lead and won the third set 20-25.
 
The fourth set was outstanding for the Banana Slugs! Norman started the team off strong with back-to-back service aces (4-1). There were consecutive kills from Makishima, Foreman, Norman, Pak, and Tuncer (15-11). The Banana Slugs dominated the set with six service aces and finished this set with a kill from Norman making the score 25-21 and tying the match.
 
In the deciding fifth set, Oaks were able to get the first point but then Norman went in for a kill (1-1). Foreman, Tuncer, and Makishima also had hard kills making an impact on the game (7-8). Unfortunately, the Oaks won four of the final five points to win the match with the final set score 10-15.
 
Norman had a team-high of 17 kills on 50 total attacks, in addition to 3 aces, 2 digs and a solo block. Tuncer had 14 kills on 35 attacks plus 9 digs and a team high 5 aces. Jalen Suwa had the team high with 12 digs and Pak had his season best with 37 assists.
 
UC Santa Cruz next takes on Simpson University on Sunday, January 28th at the West Field House at 2:00 PM.