WHITTIER, Ca. – The UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs improved to 4-2 on the young season after a 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-19) sweep over Chapman and a 3-1 (25-17, 22-25, 25-20, 25-10) loss to Whittier to end the night. Drew Bryant led the Banana Slugs attack with 15 kills against the Panthers and another 12 against the Poets. Margo Melgoza dished out the bulk of the assists with 23 against Chapman and 26 against Whittier.

UC Santa Cruz 3, Chapman 0
The Banana Slugs cruised to a straight-set victory (25-23, 25-21, 25-19) over Chapman, powered by a dominant offensive display with the team hitting at a .248 clip. In the first set, UCSC surged ahead early with an 8-2 run before extending their lead to 14-5 with kills from Gabia Paliulis, Drew Bryant, Abigail Lee, and Mia Ngo. The Slugs continued to charge forward to a 19-8 lead, but Chapman rallied all the way back to force a UCSC timeout at 23-19 and later 24-23. Out of the break, the Banana Slugs saw Heidi Collins get the final kills to take set one 25-23.

Set two saw similar action with UCSC jumping out to a 9-4 lead but the Panthers stayed close this time, tying things at 10-10 before the two teams traded attacks to a 21-18 UCSC lead with kills from Ngo, Paliulis, Bryant, and Charlotte Skulte. The Banana Slugs were able to outscore the Panthers 4-3 down the stretch to take the set 25-21.

In set three, UCSC kept the pressure on with balanced kills from Bryant, Paliulis, and Ngo, finishing strong at 25-19. Bryant's 15 kills anchored the offense, while Skulte's five blocks contributed to UCSC outpacing Chapman 41–27 in kills.

UC Santa Cruz 1, Whittier 3
Later in the evening, the Slugs fell to Whittier 3-1 in a tough Friday night tilt. In set one, UCSC stumbled out of the gate, falling behind early and struggling to regroup behind Whittier's .367 hitting percentage, dropping the opening set 25-17.

UCSC answered with urgency as the Banana Slugs fought to a 6-3 lead after facing an early 3-0 deficit in set two. The Banana Slugs continued to climb in the set, working to a 13-6 lead before the Poets could surge back into the contest at 20-20. UC Santa Cruz was able to cut the run short as they outpaced the Poets 5-2 with two aces from Melgoza and a block from Skulte and Collins to take set two 25-22.

Whittier responded promptly in set three and four, fighting through a tough early stretch of the third set before breaking through with a 20-12 lead. UCSC managed to claw back, cutting the lead to 21-19 with an ace from Kate Lau and a kill from Mia Ngo but Whittier took the set 25-20 in the end. From there, UC Santa Cruz fell behind and couldn't regroup as Whittier took an early 10-4 lead before ending the match on a 15-5 run, winning set four 25-10 to take the match 3-1.