AURORA, Ill. - The UC Santa Cruz men's volleyball team swept Wisconsin Lutheran in a three-set game Saturday afternoon, adding another win to their 18-6 season ranking. The Banana Slugs came out swinging, winning the first and second sets 25-15 and wrapping up the third with a 25-20 finish. Evan Erickson led the team in his best game this season, securing 10 kills for the Slugs. Noy Fisher added an additional nine kills, supported by Andrew Pak with 24 assists. Later in the day, UC Santa Cruz fell to No. 10 Aurora 3-1 (20-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-22) with Riley Norman and AJ Contreras leading the attack with 14 kill and 13 kills respectively. The loss puts UC Santa Cruz at 19-7 with a rematch with the Kingsmen of Cal Lutheran standing as their regular season finale in Thousand Oaks on Apr. 12 at 4:00 p.m.
 
UC Santa Cruz 3, Wisonsin Lutheran 0
The Slugs had a great first set, with the Warriors putting up one point before the Slug went on a rampage, scoring 11 consecutive points with kills from Evan Erickson, Riley Norman, and solid serves from Kyle Ownbey. The Warriors responded, trading with the Slugs, bringing the set to 7-14, but ultimately, they could not keep up with the Slug's momentum, as they scored another six points, building a 13-point lead, which helped the Banana Slugs win the set 25-15. 

The second set saw UC Santa Cruz and Wisconsin Lutheran trading points back and forth, with the Slugs maintaining the lead. The Banana Slugs had multiple four-point runs, with kills from David Polster, Kyle Ownbey, Noy Fisher, and Andrew Pek.  In a closer second set, the Slugs maintained a multiple-point lead on the Warriors, wrapping up the second set 25-15. 
 
Wisconsin Lutheran took their first lead of the day in the third set, bringing the score to 7-3 before the Slugs responded. With Andrew Pak serving, the Banana Slugs tied the game up at 7-7 before trading points back and forth with the Warriors till they reached a 14-14 tie. Determined to win the game in three, the Slugs fought hard and built up a six-point lead with kills from AJ Contreras and Noy Fisher. The Warriors stayed in the game and put up points against the Slugs but could not regain the lead before the Banana Slugs secured the match with a 25-20 third-set win.

UC Santa Cruz 1, Aurora 3
The Banana Slugs were the early aggressors in set one, jumping out to a 9-5 lead before Aurora could close the gap to 11-10. UC Santa Cruz charged forward, working to a convincing 18-12 lead but the Spartans rallied once more, cutting the Slugs lead to 21-20. UC Santa Cruz managed to pull away, taking set one 25-20 with a 4-0 run that saw kills from Riley Norman and Dylan Foreman along with two Spartans errors.
 
Aurora responded quickly, opening set two on a 3-0 run before making their way to a 12-8 lead. UC Santa Cruz stayed close, fighting to a 20-20 tie before using a 3-0 run to take the lead at 23-21, putting the late pressure on Aurora. The Spartans countered, using a 4-0 run to take set two 25-23.
 
UCSC struck first and went on a 4-1 run in set three but Aurora picked up seven straight points to take the lead at 8-4. From there, the Spartans didn't relinquish the lead, holding off the Banana Slugs attack to take set three 25-20 and go up 2-1 in the match.
 
Set four featured a much closer back and forth battle with both teams finding narrow leads in the early going. The Banana Slugs managed to tie things at 18-18 and later 22-22 using a 4-1 run to erase a 21-18 Spartans lead. The run featured a kill from AJ Contreras and an ace from Dylan Foreman but the Spartans found the remaining three points to take set four 25-22 and win the match 3-1.