Slugs Take Down Tigers and Blue Jays in Midwest Showdown to Start Gargoyle Classic

Friday, October 16

Chicago, Ill

11:00 AM PT | 1:00 PM CT

UC Santa Cruz Athletics

10-7,0-0CAC

DePauw University

14-5,2-1NCAC

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
UC Santa Cruz	25	23	25	26	3
DePauw	23	25	18	24	1

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Westminster (MO)	25	13	13	21	1
UC Santa Cruz	21	25	25	25	3

Slugs Take Down Tigers and Blue Jays in Midwest Showdown to Start Gargoyle Classic

10/16/2026 1:16:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

CHICAGO, Ill. – The UC Santa Cruz women's volleyball team earned a 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 25-18, 26-24) victory over the (RV) DePauw Tigers to start their Midwest road trip. The Banana Slugs offense was highlighted by Alice Taylor who dominated the contest with 18 kills and a .444 hitting percentage. Charlotte Skulte and Khloe Pavia also recorded double digit kills with 15 and 11, respectively, with Skulte ending the day with a .522 clip. Margo Melgoza dished out 48 assists and recorded 10 digs while Shiraz Benyoucef anchored the back line with 18 digs.

In game two of the day, Gabia Paliulis led the offense with 11 kills and a .348 clip while Alice Taylor added 10 kills and a .389 hitting percentage. Melgoza continued to run the offense with 29 assists while Benyoucef picked up 16 digs. With the two victories, the Banana Slugs have won nine of their last 10 matches and move to 11-7 on the year. The Slugs will return to the court tomorrow to take on North Park at 11:30am PT.

UC Santa Cruz 3, DePauw 1
The Banana Slugs started the day on a 4-2 run with a kill from Charlotte Skulte but from that point on, DePauw controlled the flow of the set, using an 11-5 run to go up 13-9. Margo Melgoza, Khloe Pavia, Skulte, Alice Taylor, and Kate Lau all added kills in that stretch to keep UCSC close. The Banana Slugs were able to turn things around, using an 8-4 run with kills from Melgoza, Skulte, and Taylor to tie the game at 17-17. The remainder of the set was a back and forth battle, but UC Santa Cruz fought to a 23-23 tie with a kill from Alice Taylor before a block from Lau and Skulte put UCSC at set point to force a Tigers timeout. Out of the break, Taylor recorded the final kill to seal set one 25-23.

In set two, the two teams fought to an early 7-7 tie before the Banana Slugs used a quick 6-3 run to go up 13-10 with three kills from Pavia and one from Ella Sniezek and Skulte. DePauw was able to erase the lead, outscoring UCSC 9-6 to tie the game at 19-19 before going back and forth down the stretch, narrowly outscoring the Slugs 6-4 to take set two 25-23.

DePauw struck first with a kill to start set but UC Santa Cruz quickly rattled off a 4-0 run with kills from Khloe Pavia and Charlotte Skulte to go up 4-1. The Tigers responded with an 8-5 run to tie the set at 9-9, but the Banana Slugs surged forward with a 7-1 run to take a 16-10 lead as Maddie Marshall, Kate Lau, and Margo Melgoza all chimed in for kills. The Tigers responded once again, closing the gap to one with a 6-1 run to make it 17-16 but UC Santa Cruz soared to the finish line with an 8-2 run. The run saw kills from Alice Taylor, Charlotte Skulte, and Maddie Marshall, taking the set 25-18 to go up 2-1 in the match.

The Tigers started the fourth set with a quick surge, taking an early 10-5 lead to force a UCSC timeout. From there, the Slugs began to chip away, closing the gap to 12-10 with a 5-2 run. The Banana Slugs continued to charge, using a 6-3 run to take the lead at 16-15 with kills from Melgoza, Pavia, and Riley Sawyer, forcing DePauw to talk things over. The two teams worked to a 20-20 tie with a back and forth battle down the stretch. UCSC was able to take a 24-22 lead but back to back points from DePauw tied things at 24-24. An untimely service error from DePauw and a service ace from Kate Lau clinched the 26-24 victory for UCSC, giving the Banana Slugs the 3-1 lead over (RV) DePauw.

UC Santa Cruz 3, Westminster (Mo) 1
The Westminster Blue Jays managed to take the first two points of the contest, but the Banana Slugs quickly regrouped to take a 10-7 lead as Charlotte Skulte, Margo Melgoza, Khloe Pavia, and Alcie Taylor all chimed in on attack. The Blue Jays were able to rally back, forcing a 12-12 tie before eventual taking set one 25-21.

The Blue Jays played quickly in the early stages of set two, storming to a 5-0 lead but UCSC rallied with a 10-4 run as Melgoza, Skulte, Gabia Paliulis, Olivia Phillips, and Maddie Marshall all recorded kills to put UCSC up 10-9. The run continued as UCSC fired off nine straight points to increase their lead to 19-9 before taking the next six out of four points to win set two 25-13. Notably, after trailing 5-0, the Slugs stormed through the remainder of the set, holding Westminster to eight points while earning the 25 needed to win the game with Paliulis and Marshall doing the heavy lifting on attack.

From there, the Banana Slugs were steady as they outpaced the Blue Jays 12-6 to start set three with Alice Taylor and Charlotte Skulte recording three kills and two kills while Ella Sniezek and Olivia Phillips both added one. UCSC continued to outpace Westminster as they closed out the set on a 13-7 advantage, winning the set on a costly service error by the Blue Jays at 25-13 for the second straight set.

In set four, the Blue Jays picked up steam as they held the narrow 10-9 advantage out of the gate, extending their lead to 12-9 after back to back points. From there, the Banana Slugs turned on the jets as Alice Taylor dished out four kills with Gabia Paliulis adding two in a 14-5 run that put UCSC up 23-17. Westminster wouldn't go down without a fight as they used a 4-1 run to close the lead to 24-21, but Riley Sawyer delivered the game winning kill to clinch the set 25-21 and the match 3-1.