SANTA CRUZ, Ca. – The UC Santa Cruz women's volleyball team earned their third straight victory with a 3-1 (27-25, 25-22, 21-25, 25-22) win over the Occidental Tigers to round out their opening weekend. Gabia Paliulis continued her stellar weekend with 11 kills and 18 digs while Heidi Collins added her own 11 kills to the stat sheet. Margo Melgoza dished out 22 assists with Kate Lau and Abigail Lee adding 15 and 13 digs, respectively.
 
How It Happened
Occidental held the early advantage in set one, taking a quick 4-1 lead before jumping out to an 8-3 lead. The Banana Slugs responded with a 7-2 run to tie the set at 10-10 before outscoring the Tigers 11-7 to go up 21-17. Occidental didn't go away quietly, using a 7-3 run to tie the set at 24-24, but following a UCSC timeout, the Slugs went on a 3-1 run with Gabia Paliulis recording the winning kill at 27-25.
Set two featured a similar scoreline as the two teams traded attacks en route to another 10-10 tie before the Tigers managed to build a 16-13 lead. UC Santa Cruz responded with a 6-1 run to go up 19-17 with kills from Paliulis and Mia Ngo along with blocks from Olly Gordon and Ngo.  The Tigers fought back to tie the set at 21-21 but UCSC took game two 25-22 in the end with Heidi Collins and Ashlyn Victa both recording a kill.

The opening moments of set three were close with Occidental working to a narrow 6-5 lead but the Tigers surged forward with a 13-4 run to put the pressure on UCSC, leading 19-9. The two teams went and even 5-5 with Occidental leading 24-14 before the Banana Slugs took the next seven points to rally back into the set. The 7-0 run saw four kills from Heidi Collins and one from Mia Ngo along with an ace from Ngo but a late error gave the Tigers the 25-21 set win.

The two teams fought to their third 10-10 tie of the day in set four before a 7-3 run from UCSC with kills from Michaela Augustine, Olly Gordon, and Gabia Paliulis forced a Tigers timeout. Out of the break, the Tigers rallied back within one point at 21-20 thanks to a 7-4 advantage. The Banana Slugs held off the late pressure with a 4-2 run, winning the game after a Tigers serve sailed out of bounds to give UCSC the 25-22 set win and the 3-1 victory on the day.
 
What's Up Next
The Banana Slugs will take on the rest of the SCIAC for their next seven contests, having already played the University of Redlands and Occidental College. UCSC gets the Southern California road trip started on Sept. 5 with games against Chapman and Whittier before taking on Pomona-Pitzer and No. 7 La Verne on Sept. 6. The Banana Slugs will get a few days of rest before taking on Redlands in a rematch on Sept. 12 before playing No. 15 Claremont-Mudd-Scipps and California Lutheran on Sept. 13.