MEQUON, WI. – The UC Santa Cruz men's volleyball team earned their second sweep of the day, defeating Concordia University Wisconsin 3-0 (25-23, 25-17, 25-21). With the victory, the Slugs are now 9-5 on the season and will be back in action tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. when they take on UW Stevens Point and Marian at UWSP. AJ Contreras led the team with 15 kills against the Falcons while Riley Norman chimed in for 12. Caio Valente had another solid performance with 32 assists and nine digs.
 
How It Happened
UC Santa Cruz earned the first point of the match with a kill from Riley Norman, but it was the Falcons who had the early advantage as they worked to a 9-4 lead to force the Slugs to call a timeout. Out of the break, the Slugs cut the lead to 9-8 with a 4-0 run with kills from Norman and AJ Contreras. The two teams stayed neck and neck, working to six different ties with CUW narrowly holding onto their lead at 20-19 before back to back points from UCSC gave the Slugs a 21-20 lead to force a Falcons timeout. Out of the break, UCSC recorded a kill from AJ Contreras to go up 22-20 before going point for point down the stretch to win set one 25-23.
 
In set two, the Slugs took an early 4-2 advantage, but the set remained close as CUW tied things at 5-5 and managed to stay within two points of the Slugs until UCSC went up 12-9 with kills from Dylan Foreman and AJ Contreras. The Falcons were able to narrowly outscore UCSC 5-3 for a quick run, pulling within one at 15-14 but the Slugs capitalized on a service error before recording a block from Ethan Makishima and Caio Valente to go back up by three at 17-14, forcing CUW to call a timeout. Out of the timeout, CUW pulled within one at 17-16 but an 8-1 run from UCSC gave them the 25-17.
 
The Slugs jumped out to a 3-1 lead to start set three, but the Falcons responded with a 4-0 run to take a 5-3 lead before extending it to 8-4 with a 3-0 run. UCSC responded with a 4-1 run to cut the deficit to one at 9-8 but the Falcons continued to battle, taking four of the next six point to push their lead to 13-10. From there, the Slugs rallied back, earning four straight points thanks to three CUW errors and a kill from Dylan Foreman, forcing the Falcons to take a timeout trailing UCSC 14-13. CUW managed to tie the game at 15-15 before taking a late 19-18 lead but the Slugs played strong down the stretch as they outscored the Falcons 6-2 to take the 25-21 win and earn their second sweep of the day.