SANTA CRUZ, Ca. – The No. 13 UC Santa Cruz men's volleyball team earned a 3-1 (21-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-20) victory over the No. 8 NYU Violets to close out the 2026 Slug Slam Tournament, improving to 4-0 on the young season. The Banana Slugs hit at a .319 clip in the contest while holding the Violets to a .162 hitting percentage.
Riley Norman and
Kyle Ownbey controlled the offense with 13 kills and 10 kills while
Logan Taylor dished out 31 assists with
Caio Valente chiming in for 19.
AJ Contreras anchored the defense with 12 digs while
Riley Norman added 10. The Banana Slugs attack featured three players above a .500 hitting percentage with
Evan Erickson ending the day with nine kills and a .727 hitting percentage while
Nick Nayak and
Kyle Ownbey closed out the day with a .583 and .500, respectively. UC Santa Cruz will be back in action on Jan. 30th when they take on RV Mount Union at 3:00 p.m.
Match Highlights:
- The Banana Slugs set the tone early, jumping out to a 4-1 lead in set one with two kills from Evan Erickson and two from Noy Fisher.
- NYU erased the early deficit, using a 5-0 run to go up 11-7 before taking an 18-15 lead later in the set.
- The Banana Slugs tied the game at 20-20 with a 5-2 run but the Violets took five of the next six points to take set one 25-21.
- NYU carried their momentum into set two, starting the game on a 6-3 run but UCSC used a 10-4 run to go up 13-10 with kills from Kyle Ownbey, AJ Conteras, and Evan Erickson.
- Set two continued to feature big swings as NYU tied the game at 15-15 following a 4-0 run but a 4-1 run from the Slugs put UCSC back on top at 19-16.
- After a series of late ties, UCSC earned the final two kills off the hands of Kyle Ownbey and Riley Norman to take set two 25-23, leveling the match at 1-1.
- Set three featured tight play through the early stages with the Banana Slugs working to a 15-13 lead before surging ahead to a 20-14 lead with kills from AJ Contreras and Nick Nayak along with an ace from Kyle Ownbey.
- NYU responded with a 6-3 run, but a Kyle Ownbey kill and later an Ownbey block gave UCSC the third set win at 25-21.
- The fourth set followed the same pattern as the rest as the two teams worked to a 14-14 tie before the Banana Slugs took seven of the next 10 points to go up 21-17 with Nayak, Contreras, Erickson, and Norman all earning kills in the run.
- The Banana Slugs outscored NYU 4-3 down the stretch with Noy Fisher drilling an ace to put UCSC up 24-19 before Kyle Ownbey delivered the final blow, sealing the 25-20 set four victory and 3-1 win overall.
