LA VERNE, Ca. – The UC Santa Cruz women's volleyball team dropped a pair of contests to Southern California foes on Saturday afternoon, dropping a 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-17) match to the Chapman Panthers before falling in a hard fought five-set 3-2 (22-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-12, 15-12) battle with the Whittier Poets. The pair of losses drop the Banana Slugs to 4-4 on the year with the Occidental Tigers next on the schedule on Sept. 11 at 5:00 p.m. at Occidental.
 
UC Santa Cruz 0, Chapman 3
The Banana Slugs struggled to find their groove in game one of the day as they were held to a .000 hitting percentage with 24 kills overall with Ashley Magley leading the team with five kills. In the first set, the Slugs initially had the advantage at 3-1 but Chapman worked out to a 6-4 lead before charging forward to 14-6 with an 8-2 run. UCSC went on a quick 3-0 run to make it 14-9 but the Panthers were relentless the rest of the way, winning set one 25-15.
 
In set two, the Slugs and Panthers fought to a 3-3 tie and later a 6-6 tie before the Panthers pulled away with a 6-1 run, forcing a UCSC timeout. Out of the break, the Slugs regrouped and went on a 5-2 run to cut the lead to 14-12 and later cut it to within two once again at 16-14. Chapman and UC Santa Cruz traded attacks down the stretch, but the Slugs were held to just four more points as Chapman took set two 25-18.
 
Set three saw similar scorelines as the Slugs used a 3-0 run to tie the set at 6-6 but six unanswered points for Chapman put the Panthers on top 12-6. The Panthers increased their lead to 17-9 with a 5-2 run and didn't run into trouble until the Slugs used a 4-0 run to cut the lead to 22-16. Chapman managed to regroup and take the set 25-23 following a 3-1 run, defeating the Slugs 25-17.
 
UC Santa Cruz 2, Whittier 3
The Slugs had a much better showing in their second game of the day, recording a .233 hitting percentage with Ashley Magley and Heidi Collins leading the team with 16 kills and 11 kills. Kelly Ann Greene had 10 kills with four aces while Olly Gordon had six blocks with Michaela Augustine dishing out 23 assists. Anna Hospodar anchored the defense with 15 digs.
 
The first game set the tone for the match as the two teams traded attacks and the lead for much of the set. UCSC saw the early advantage at 6-4 before Whittier snatched the lead at 10-9. UCSC quickly rallied back to a 15-13 lead, but a Poets 5-0 run put the Slugs behind 18-15. UC Santa Cruz was able to rally back and use a 5-0 run to take the lead at 22-21 before ending the set with a 3-1 run, earning the 25-22 win in set one.
 
Whittier started set two on a 4-0 lead and never relinquished the lead despite the Slugs pulling within one point on nine separate occasions with a tie coming at 21-21. The hard fought battle saw kills from Olly Gordon, Ashley Magley, and Heidi Collins force the Poets to call a timeout with the Slugs cutting the lead to 20-19. Olly Gordon recorded a kill shortly after the break followed by an ace from Abigail Lee to tie things at 21-21. From there the two teams went back and forth with Whittier pulling out the 25-23 set two win.
 
In set three, Whittier had the early momentum as they jumped out to a 7-3 lead, but the Slugs cut it to 8-7 before the Poets could build the gap to 14-10, prompting a quick talk on the sideline from UCSC. Out of the break, the Slugs went on a 10-1 run that saw kills from Magley, Greene, Bryant, and Collins to go up 20-15. Despite the large run, the Poets stormed back into the contest, going on a 6-3 run to cut the lead to 23-21 and force the Slugs to talk things over. Out of the break, the Slugs benefited from an attack error on the Poets, but Whittier cut the lead to 24-23 before UCSC saw an Ashley Magley kill cap off the 25-23 set win.
 
After the back and forth battle, the Poets made quick work of the fourth set, taking an early 8-3 lead before shooting out to a 16-7 lead, forcing the Slugs to use both their timeouts in the set. Whittier managed to outscore UCSC 9-5 the rest of the way to win set four 25-12, sending the game to the fifth set.
 
Whittier maintained their momentum, jumping out to a 5-1 lead and later a 13-4 lead, putting the game seemingly out of reach. Despite the gap, the Banana Slugs rallied back into the set, putting the pressure on the Poets with an 8-1 run with kills from Bryant and Collins, cutting the lead to 14-12. Unfortunately, the run fell just short as Whittier recorded the final kill to take the fifth set 15-12 and defeat the Slugs 3-2.