LOS ANGELES, Ca. – The UC Santa Cruz women's volleyball team improved to 5-4 on the season with a 3-0 sweep over the Occidental Tigers on Wednesday night. The Banana Slugs earned the 3-0 victory by way of 25-22, 25-15, 25-21 set scores, recording 48 kills on the evening with a .361 hitting percentage.
Ashley Magley recorded a team high 14 kills with
Margo Melgoza dishing out 22 assists on the night. The Slugs will stay in Southern California for their next four contests as they compete in the Cal Lutheran Invite on Sept. 13 and Sept. 14, opening the action with a Friday 4:00 p.m. match against Chapman University before ending the night with a 7:00 p.m. game against Pomona-Pitzer. On Saturday, the Slugs will take on East Texas Baptist at 10:00 a.m. before playing the host Cal Lutheran at 1:00 p.m.
How It Happened
The opening set played out evenly as the two teams fought to a 10-10 tie. Occidental managed to narrowly edge the Slugs from there with a 9-7 advantage to take a 19-17 lead but UC Santa Cruz stormed back with an 8-3 run with kills from
Drew Bryant,
Kelly Ann Greene, and
Heidi Collins to take set one 25-21.
The Slugs kept the momentum going in the second set, starting the game with a 10-3 run with kills from
Ashley Magley,
Gabia Paliulis,
Olly Gordon, and
Kate Lau. The Tigers attempted to climb back into the contest, but the Slugs outscored them 8-6 to make their way to an 18-9 lead before the Tigers called a timeout to talk things over as Lau and Paliulis were putting on the pressure with back to back kills. Despite the break, Occidental couldn't bounce back as UC Santa Cruz paced them point for point with a 7-6 edge down the stretch to win set two 25-15 with
Olly Gordon delivering the final kill.
Set three saw the Slugs continue their tear, this time starting with an 11-4 run, but tides shifted as the Tigers regrouped and charged back into the set with an 8-1 run to tie the game at 12-12. From there,
Ashley Magley sparked an 8-5 run with four kills while Lau and Greene both recorded one of their own to put the Slugs up 20-17. UC Santa Cruz held their lead the rest of the way, outscoring the Tigers 5-4 to take cap off the sweep with a 25-21 set three victory.
