Slugs Improve to 5-0 with Victory Over Mount Union

Friday, January 30

Alliance, Oh.

3:00 PM PT

UC Santa Cruz Athletics

5-0,0-0DIII Independent

University of Mount Union

2-3,0-0MCVL

UC Santa Cruz

Mount Union

1/30/2026 7:26:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

ALLIANCE, Oh. – The No. 7 UC Santa Cruz men's volleyball team improved to 5-0 on the year following a 3-1 (25-18, 24-26, 25-16, 25-17) victory over the Mount Union Purple Raiders on Friday evening. The Slugs hit at a .358 clip with Riley Norman leading the team with 15 kills and 10 digs while Caio Valente dished out 29 assists. UC Santa Cruz will be back in action tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. when they take on (RV) Misericordia before taking on No. 15 Baldwin Wallace University at 3:00 p.m. PT.

Match Highlights

The Slugs quickly built a 5-2 lead in set one with kills from Evan Erickson and Noy Fisher, but the Purple Raiders kept pace as the Slugs maintained the three point lead at 14-11.
UC Santa Cruz managed to pull away, using a 6-2 run to go up 20-13 with aces from Riley Norman along with kills from Nick Nayak and AJ Contreras.
The two teams traded attacks back and forth down the stretch but a solo block from Kyle Ownbey gave UCSC the 25-18 set one victory.
The Purple Raiders responded in set two, sneaking away with a 26-24 win.
UC Santa Cruz answered in the third set, surging to a 10-3 before outpacing Mount Union 10-7 to go up 20-10 with kills from AJ Contreras, Nick Nayak, Riley Norman, Evan Erickson, and Noy Fisher. The Slugs went on to take the third set 25-16.
The Slugs continued to charge forward, building an early 7-3 lead and later a 15-9 advantage. Mount Union pulled within three at 19-16 but UCSC closed out the set on a 6-1 run to earn the 25-17 win and 3-1 win overall.