Men's Volleyball takes two in Windy City Doubleheader

Friday, February 16

River Forest, IL

2:00 PM Pacific

UC Santa Cruz Athletics

7-7,0-0DIII Independent

Aurora University

2-6,0-0NACC

UC Santa Cruz

Aurora

Photo by: Miles Oei

2/16/2024 10:54:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: By Max Gold

RIVER FOREST, IL- UC Santa Cruz spotted both Aurora and Dominican the opening set before rallying for a pair of 3-1 victories on Friday. UC Santa Cruz moved to 8-7 after their fifth consecutive win.

Match 1- UC Santa Cruz defeats Aurora 3-1 (16-25, 25-23, 27-25, 25-17)
After hitting -.048 in a first-set loss, the Banana Slugs hit .284 the next two sets to gain a 2-1 lead. The third set had 12 ties before the Banana Slugs held on to win. Set four started close again, but Ethan Makishima's kill and Marcus Donchuanchom's ace started a 4-0 run that gave UC Santa Cruz a 13-9 lead. The Spartans got close again at 16-15 before the Banana Slugs finished the set and match on a 9-2 run for the hard-earned win.
Riley Norman (20 kills/10 digs) and Leo Tuncer (12 kills/10 digs) both had double-doubles to lead the Banana Slugs. Kyle Ownsbey added 11 kills and Ethan Makishima had a season-high 10.

Match 2- UC Santa Cruz defeats Dominican 3-1 (21-25, 31-29, 25-21, 25-18)
Against the host Stars, the Banana Slugs had another slow start in dropping the first set. The Banana Slugs struggled in set two as well but twice rallied on set point to tie before consecutive kills from Ownbey and Tuncer gave them the set to tie the match. In the pivotal third set, Tuncer and Ownbey combined for a block that started a 6-2 run to close the set and give UC Santa Cruz the lead in the match. The tense back-and-forth fourth set saw the Banana Slugs pull ahead with their defense as the Stars hit negative until late, but UC Santa Cruz finished the match holding Dominican to .000 in the final set with just eight kills and the Banana Slugs serving up four blocks. Nico Espinoza led UC Santa Cruz with a career-high 15 kills. Tuncer had five total blocks. Andrew Pak had 28 assists with Logan Taylor contributing 13.

The Banana Slugs stay in Chicago to face Concordia and North Park on Saturday.