Slugs Drop Captains with 3-0 Sweep for Sixth Straight Victory

Friday, October 2

Fredericksburg, VA

4:00 PM PT | 7:00 PM ET

UC Santa Cruz Athletics

8-6

Christopher Newport University

11-5

Team	1	2	3	Final F
UC Santa Cruz	25	25	25	3
Christopher Newport	17	23	17	0

Slugs Drop Captains with 3-0 Sweep for Sixth Straight Victory

10/2/2026 9:46:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. – The UC Santa Cruz women's volleyball team extended their win streak to six straight games with a 3-0 sweep over the (RV) Christopher Newport Captains on Friday evening at the University of Mary Washington. The Banana Slugs earned the sweep quickly, taking down CNU 25-17, 25-23, 25-17. Kate Lau and Khloe Pavia led the attack with eight kills each while Margo Melgoza dished out 26 assists and two service aces. Shiraz Benyoucef and Olivia Phillips anchored the back line with 14 digs and 10 digs, respectively. Charlotte Skulte and Alice Taylor made it hard for CNU to find their offense as the duo both recorded three solo blocks. With the victory, the Banana Slugs are now 8-6 on the year. UC Santa Cruz will be back in action tomorrow at 8am and 10:30am as they take on Mary Washington and Salisbury in a morning C2C doubleheader.

How It Happened
UC Santa Cruz struck first with a kill from Margo Melgoza as the Slugs quickly fought to a 5-3 lead. The two teams went back and forth, fighting to a 10-10 tie but UCSC forced a CNU tie after rattling off four straight points to a 14-10 lead with kills from Khloe Pavia and Charlotte Skulte along with an ace from Melgoza. From there, the Banana Slugs continued to climb, using kills from Alice Taylor, Margo Melgoza, Kate Lau, and Khloe Pavia to extend their lead to 21-15. CNU was only able to record two more points as UCSC saw Skulte close out the set with a kill and a solo block, sealing set one 25-17 in favor of the Banana Slugs.

Set two saw no let up from UCSC as the Slugs cruised to a 7-2 lead to force the early CNU timeout. Out of the break, CNU closed the gap to two points at 11-9 but a 4-0 run with kills from Sydney Janowitz, Khloe Pavia, and Charlotte Skulte kept UCSC in the drivers seat at 15-9. Despite the six point lead, the Captains surged back, closing the gap to just one point at 17-16 and later 20-19. The Banana Slugs stayed steady, using a CNU error and a Kate Lau kill to go up 22-19 and force the Captains to talk things over. The timeout resulted in a CNU kill out of the break but back to back errors put UCSC up 24-20. The Captains didn't go down quietly, scoring three straight points to force the Banana Slugs to call a timeout. Out of the break, Khloe Pavia delivered the final kill of the set, giving UCSC the 25-23 set two victory to go up 2-0 in the contest.

UCSC would not be denied in set three as they surged forward, going on a convincing 11-3 run with kills from Janowitz, Taylor, and Lau to take the early advantage. The Slugs didn't slow down as Janowitz and Lau added two more kills to go up 15-5 before UCSC forced CNU to take a timeout at 19-7 after another Khloe Pavia kill. UCSC wasn't fazed by the timeout as Pavia continued to rip, recording another kill as the Slugs extended their lead to 21-7. From there, the Captains managed to rally for a 7-2 run to close the gap to 23-14. Despite CNU earning three more points in the set, a Charlotte Skulte kill and Sydney Janowitz block sealed the victory as UCSC took set three 25-17, earning the clean sweep over CNU.