SANTA CRUZ, Ca. – The UCSC women's volleyball team fell 3-0 (25-13,25-19, 27-25) to the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds on Monday night in their home finale. With the loss, the Banana Slugs are right at .500 on the season with a 12-12 record. The Slugs were held to a .130 hitting percentage on the night with Gabia Paliulis leading the team with eight kills while Margo Melgoza dished out 15 assists. Anna Hospodar and Abigail Lee anchored the defense with 11 digs and nine digs respectively. UC Santa Cruz will play their next four matches on the road as they travel to St. Thomas (Tx.) to take on Mary Hardin-Baylor, St. Thomas (Tx.) LeTourneau, and Hardin-Simmons on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2.
 
How It Happened
The Banana Slugs fell behind early in set as FPU took a 6-1 lead before making it 10-2 moments later. The Banana Slugs continued to struggle offensively as FPU worked to a 17-7 advantage and later took set one 25-13 following a 5-0 run.
 
Margo Melgoza started set two with an ace as UCSC took an early 5-3 lead and pushed ahead to a 10-6 lead with an ace from Abigail Lee and kill from Drew Bryant. The Slugs continued to maintain their edge up to 13-11 but a 4-0 run from the Sunbirds put FPU on top 15-13. The Sunbirds never relinquished the lead as they went on to take set two 25-19.
 
Set three proved to be the most exciting of the night as both teams came out swinging with the Slugs taking the early advantage at 3-1 with kills from Gabia Paliulis and Kelly Ann Greene before the two teams went back and forth, working to 19 different ties before the Banana Slugs managed to earn a two-point lead at 24-22 thanks to kills from Vanessa Ojeikere and Kate Lau. Despite the set point in favor of the Slugs, FPU managed to earn two points and tie it at 24-24 before a Kate Lau put the Slugs back on top 25-24. Unfortunately, FPU earned the last three points to steal set three 27-25 and earn the 3-0 win over UCSC.