SANTA CRUZ, Ca. – The UC Santa Cruz women's volleyball team earned a 3-1 (25-17, 25-19, 19-25, 25-18) victory over the Mary Washington Eagles on Saturday in the C2C Women's Volleyball Third Place match to cap off the 2025 season with an 11-16 record. UCSC hit at a .221 clip on the day, including a .344 hitting percentage in the fourth set with Mia Ngo leading the way with 14 kills and a .478%. Kate Lau recorded 12 kills and 10 digs in the match while Margo Melgoza dished out 41 assists. Ella Sniezek and Shiraz Benyoucef anchored the defense with the pair picking up 16 and 15 digs, respectively. At the conclusion of the conference tournament, Margo Melgoza was named to the 2025 All-Tournament team.
 
How It Happened
UC Santa Cruz got off to a quick start with a 3-0 run with kills from Gabia Paliulis and Ella Sniezek but the Eagles countered to take a 12-10 lead. From there, UC Santa Cruz rattled off eight unanswered points with kills from Mia Ngo, Paliulis, and Chisom Okaforize, regaining the lead at 18-12. The two teams briefly traded attacks with UMW narrowly outscoring UCSC 5-4 but a 3-0 run from the Slugs gave UCSC the 25-17 set one win with Kate Lau ending it with an ace.
 
The Banana Slugs continued to surge as they started set two on an 8-1 run that saw aces from Ella Sniezek and Gabia Paliulis while Margo Melgoza, Chisom Okaforize, and Kate Lau all recorded kills. A UMW 5-2 run closed the gap to 10-6 before the two teams traded 3-0 bursts with UCSC leading 13-9. From there, Mary Washington was able to pressure the Banana Slugs, pulling within two points at 18-16 following a 7-5 advantage. The Slugs answered promptly, using a 7-3 run to close out the set with kills from Kate Lau and Mia Ngo and take set two 25-19.
 
After a back and forth battle started set three with the two teams working to a 6-6 tie, UMW was able to jump out to a convincing 19-11 lead to put UCSC in a hole midway through the set. The Banana Slugs didn't go down quietly, using an 8-2 run to close the gap to 22-19 with kills from Heidi Collins, Mia Ngo, Olly Gordon, and Kate Lau but three untimely attacking errors by the Slugs gave UMW the set 25-19.
 
In set four, the Slugs left no doubt as they started the game on a 5-1 run and worked to an 8-4 lead with kills from Heidi Collins. A quick surge from UMW tied the set at 8-8 but the Slugs answered, taking six of the next seven points to go back on top at 14-9. UC Santa Cruz continued to fend off the small burst from Mary Washington as the Eagles pulled within two points at 15-13 and later three points at 20-17. UCSC ended the match on a 5-1 run with kills from Collins, Okaforize, and Lau to take the set 25-18, earning the 3-1 victory over the Eagles to end the 2025 season.