NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The UC Santa Cruz women's volleyball team dropped 3-0 matches to the Salisbury Sea Gulls and Christopher Newport Captains on Friday afternoon as they started the C2C Invitational. UCSC had a tight match with Salisbury, falling 25-22, 25-23, 25-18 before dropping their match to CNU 25-12, 25-14, 25-20. The Banana Slugs will be back in action tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. PT with a rematch against the Sea Gulls before taking on University of Mary Washington at 1:00 p.m. PT.
 
In game one, Olly Gordon led the attack with seven kills while Shiraz Benyoucef anchored the defense with 18 digs. Margo Melgoza facilitated the offense, dishing out 20 assists. In game two, Heidi Collins led the offense with 11 kills and a .273 hitting percentage with Alessandra Ponzo recording 13 assists with Benyoucef picking up nine digs in the contest.
 
UC Santa Cruz 0, Salisbury 3
The Banana Slugs struck first with a kill from Olly Gordon and slowly worked to a 6-4 lead with kills from Kate Lau and Mia Ngo. The set remained tight as UCSC worked to a narrow 13-12 lead with a 4-0 run before Salisbury built a run of their own to take the lead at 22-18. The Slugs managed to cut the lead to 23-22 with a 4-1 run that featured kills from Lau and Charlotte Skulte along with a block from Gordon but the Sea Gulls took the final two points to take set one 25-22.

Salisbury jumped out to an early 4-0 lead and didn't relinquish the advantage until UCSC used a 3-0 run to go up 14-13 with Ngo and Heidi Collins recording kills while Alessandra Ponzo dished out a service ace. From there, Salisbury was able to go on a 9-3 run to regain the lead at 22-17 but UC Santa Cruz answered with a 6-2 run to cut the deficit to one point at 24-23. Unfortunately, an untimely service error gave the Sea Gulls the point they needed to take set two 25-23.

The Sea Gulls continued to charge forward, taking an early 6-2 lead and never looking back. UC Santa Cruz was able to pull within one point at 10-9 with kills from Gabia Paliulis, Heidi Collins, and Chisom Okaforize but that would be the closest they'd come as Salisbury held off the UCSC run. The Slugs tried to rally back with a 4-1 run that cut the lead to 17-15 but Salisbury closed out the match on an 8-3 run to take set three 25-18.
 
UC Santa Cruz 0, Christopher Newport 3
The Slugs took the first point of the afternoon, but CNU jumped out to an early 8-3 lead to put the pressure on UCSC. The Banana Slugs couldn't quite find their footing as the Captains continued to press forward, taking a 14-6 lead before making it 20-10 with a slight 6-4 edge in scoring. CNU closed out the set on a 5-2 run to take set one 25-12.

After a kill from Heidi Collins and block from Olly Gordon and Ella Sniezek, UC Santa Cruz had an early 2-0 lead and worked to a 5-4 advantage with kills from Collins, Paliulis, and Sniezek. From there, CNU went on a 9-1 run to take a 13-6 lead and later increased the gap to 12 points at 22-10. UCSC was able to score four straight with three CNU errors and a kill from Sniezek, but CNU responded with a 3-0 run to take set two 25-14.

In set three, the two teams traded early attacks with UCSC coming out on top 10-8 thanks to four straight kills from Heidi Collins. The Captains surged back into the contest with an 8-2 run, taking a 16-12 lead. The Banana Slugs saw kills from Claudia Moeller, Maddie Marshall, and Collins to help them cut the lead to 17-15 but CNU outpaced UCSC 8-5 down the stretch to take set three 25-20.