WASHINGTON, D.C. –  The UC Santa Cruz women's volleyball team opened the 2025 Worthington Classic with a 3-0 (25-9, 25-20, 25-21) loss to the No. 18 Hope College Flying Dutchmen. The Banana Slugs saw Gabia Paliulis lead the offense with seven kills while Margo Melgoza dished out 22 assists. Shiraz Benyoucef anchored the defense with
 
UC Santa Cruz 0, No. 18 Hope
The Flying Dutchmen of Hope College put the pressure on early against UC Santa Cruz, jumping out to an early 7-1 lead to force an early UCSC timeout. Out of the break, Kate Lau recorded a kill with Drew Bryant recording two of her own to cut the lead to 8-4. A 10-0 run from Hope put UCSC behind 18-4 and despite the Banana Slugs efforts, Hope closed out the set 7-5 to take game one 25-9.

Set two was much tighter in the early going as UCSC worked to a small 5-4 lead with two kills from Gabia Paliulis but Hope quickly stole the momentum with a 12-4 run to go up 16-9. The Banana Slugs rallied back, pulling within one at 20-19 to force a Flying Dutchmen timeout as Kate Lau, Drew Bryant, and Chisom Okaforize all recorded kills. Out of the break, Hope was able to end the set on a 5-1 run to win 25-20, taking a 2-0 lead.

A kill from Olly Gordon got set three started, but the Flying Dutchmen held onto momentum, taking a 10-6 lead and later a 13-8 lead to force a UCSC timeout. The Banana Slugs tried to rally back and narrowly outscored Hope 13-12 down the stretch, but Hope preserved their lead to take set three 25-21. In the final stretch, the offense featured kills from Gordon, Paliulis, Okaforize, Lau, Bryant, and Charlotte Skultie.