MARSHALL, Tx. – The UC Santa Cruz women's volleyball team dropped a hard fought five set match 3-2 (26-24, 19-25, 25-12, 14-25, 15-9) to the Austin College Roos to open their weekend in Texas.
Heidi Collins highlighted the teams attacked with 12 kills while
Margo Melgoza dished out 36 assists and six service aces.
Shiraz Benyoucef, Melgoza, and Collins all played well defensively with Benyoucef picking up 14 digs while Melgoza and Collins recorded 12 each. UCSC will be back in action tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time when they take on Howard Payne University.
How It Happened
UC Santa Cruz controlled much of the first set as they jumped out to a narrow 7-5 lead to get the action going. Austin stayed close, taking a slight lead at 12-11 but UCSC managed to regain control and work to a 9-16 advantage and later a 24-21 advantage. The Roos weren't discouraged as they scored five unanswered points to steal set one 26-24.
The Banana Slugs got right to work in set two, surging to an 8-1 lead with kills from
Kate Lau,
Mia Ngo,
Shiraz Benyoucef, and
Heidi Collins. The Roos were able to regroup, closing the gap to 13-7 before using a 7-0 run to take a slight 14-13 lead. The Banana Slugs responded promptly, using an 8-1 run with kills from
Gabia Paliulis,
Charlotte Skulte, Ngo, and Collins to regain the lead at 21-15. The two teams went an even 4-4 down the stretch as UCSC took set two 25-19.
Sets three and four featured convincing action from both squads as Austin took an early 5-0 lead in set three before flying to the finish line with a 25-12 set three win. UCSC responded with the same move in the fourth, taking a 5-2 lead before jumping ahead to a 16-8 advantage, later winning the set 25-14 off a service ace from
Ella Sniezek.
The fifth set saw UC Santa Cruz strike first with a kill and a block from
Mia Ngo, but the Roos responded with a 7-0 run to take a 7-2 advantage. Austin extended their lead to 11-3 before UCSC used a 6-3 run to cut the deficit to 14-9. Austin was able to take the fifth set 15-9 after a bad set on UCSC, giving the Roos the 3-2 victory overall.
