Slugs Defeat Cougars, Fall to Yellow Jackets in Five

Saturday, January 31

Berea, Oh.

1:00 PM PT

UC Santa Cruz Athletics

6-0,0-0DIII Independent

Misericordia University

3-4,0-0Middle Atlantic

UC Santa Cruz

Misericordia

1/31/2026 8:22:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

BEREA, Oh. — The No. 7 UC Santa Cruz men's volleyball team improved to 6-0 on the year following a 3-2 (20-25, 25-15, 25-13, 24-26, 15-11) victory over the Misericordia Cougars on Saturday afternoon. The Slugs hit at a .285 clip with AJ Contreras leading the team with 13 kills while Riley Norman added 10 kills, four aces, eight assists, and six digs. UC Santa Cruz later fell to No. 15 Baldwin Wallace 3-2 (22-25, 26-28, 32-30, 25-21, 23-21) to close out Saturday evening, suffering their first loss of the season. The Slugs hit at a .352 clip with Riley Norman leading the team with 17 kills, 10 digs, and four assists while Kyle Ownbey was dominant with 15 kills on a .682 hitting percentage.

Misericordia Match Highlights

UCSC dropped the opening set 25-20 after hitting just .040 with nine attack errors, but the Banana Slugs responded emphatically in set two.
UC Santa Cruz dominated the second set, hitting .500 with 15 kills while holding Misericordia to a .080 clip to cruise to a 25-15 victory with kills from Contreras, Noy Fisher, and Evan Erickson.
The Slugs carried the momentum into the third set, hitting .524 and limiting Misericordias attack opportunity leading to a 25-13 win with Riley Norman leading the charge.
Misericordia battled back in set four, edging UCSC 26-24 in a tight frame to force a fifth set.
UC Santa Cruz took control in the decisive fifth set, pulling away for a 15-11 win to clinch the match. Kyle Ownbey finished with seven kills on a .417 hitting percentage along with two aces and two solo blocks while Nick Nayak added seven kills. Logan Taylor dished out 12 assists and Caio Valente added 13.

Baldwin Wallace Match Highlights

UCSC took the opening set 25-22 behind an efficient .391 attack with Norman, Fisher, and Drake Harris leading the way.
The Banana Slugs edged out a tight second set 28-26 after eight tie scores, with 18 kills led by Harris and Ownbey to take a 2-0 match lead.
Baldwin Wallace fought back in a marathon third set that featured 15 tie scores and six lead changes. Despite 18 kills from UCSC, the Yellow Jackets took the set 32-30 to get back in the match.
The fourth set saw Baldwin Wallace even the match with a 25-21 win as the Slugs hit .280 and couldn't keep pace down the stretch.
The fifth set was a back-and-forth affair with 16 tie scores and eight lead changes. UCSC hit .500 with 11 kills but Baldwin Wallace edged out the 23-21 victory to clinch the match. Logan Taylor dished out 35 assists and Caio Valente added 21 while Harris finished with 13 kills, 10 digs, and a block to go along with Norman's team-high 19.0 points. Noy Fisher contributed 12 kills with two aces and Evan Erickson added six kills and two block assists.?????????
The Slugs fended off a 14-12 lead by Baldwin Wallace, tying the match at 14-14 before having match point moments at 15-14, 16-15, 18-17, 19-18, and 20-19.