Almost 300 Banana Slug fans came to support the UC Santa Cruz men's volleyball team on Senior night against fourth-ranked Cal Lutheran University. However, the No. 13 Banana Slugs lost 2-3 (25-23, 25-15, 22-25, 24-26, 10-15) this Saturday afternoon at the West Field House.  The Banana Slugs honored Ethan Makishima, Jalen Suwa, and Rhett Hughes for their last home game.
 
The match opened with the Kingsmen getting back-to-back attack errors and a kill from Riley Norman contributing to the first points of the game (3-1). With the score tied 12-12, Makishima, Nico Espinoza, and Leo Tuncer contributed to two double blocks making the score 14-12. The Kingsmen were able to recover from a deficit and tie the score 19-19 until Tuncer and Espinoza had consecutive kills to give the Banana Slugs back the lead (21-19). The first set ended with a kill by Norman from the back row.
 
Tuncer started the second set with a kill securing the first point for the Banana Slugs. Tuncer also added a one-hit kill making the score 15-8 and a solo block making the score 17-10. The Banana Slugs finished the second set with another kill by Tuncer making the score 25-15.
 
The third set was a back-and-forth between the Banana Slugs and the Kingsmen. The Kingsmen had their biggest lead of the match at 16-12 until the Banana Slugs came back and tied the match 22-22. However, the Kingsmen won this set 25-22.
 
The fourth set was another intense exchange with ties throughout. After the Kingsmen gained the lead by one point, Norman had a crowd-stopping play that came in with a right outside kill tying the match up 23-23. Ultimately, the Kingsmen won the fourth set finishing with a block that made the score 26-24.
 
The final set started with a kill from Tuncer. Kyle Ownbey added back-to-back kills securing the Banana Slugs lead (5-2), while Norman continued to come in with hard-hitting kills. The set was tied 8-8 until a Kingsmen attack error gave the Banana Slugs a 9-8 lead. The Kingsmen regained the lead but Makishima had a kill to pull the hosts within 12-10. The Kingsmen answered with three consecutive points to win the set 15-10 and take the match.
 
Tuncer had a team-high 18 kills on 41 attacks while also having 13 assists, two solo blocks, and 4 digs. Norman had 13 kills on 36 attacks, 9 digs and one solo block. Jalen Suwa led the defense with 17 digs and Logan Taylor had the most assists with 30. 
UC Santa Cruz will finish the regular season on the road when they take on UC Merced on April 13th, at 5:00 PM.