To the Ship! Banana Slugs Drop Sea Gulls 3-1 in Conference Semifinal

Friday, November 13

Fredericksburg, VA

10:30 AM PT | 1:30 PM ET

UC Santa Cruz Athletics

14-10

Salisbury University

15-10

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
UC Santa Cruz	20	25	26	25	3
Salisbury	25	22	24	23	1

11/13/2026 6:12:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. – In a Friday thriller, the No. 3 seeded UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs dropped the No. 2 seeded Salisbury Sea Gulls 3-1 (20-25, 25-22, 26-24, 25-23) to advance to the 2026 Coast-to-Coast Women's Volleyball Conference Championship. Charlotte Skulte led the attack with 11 kills while Shiraz Benyoucef anchored the defense with 21 digs while dishing out four service aces. Margo Melgoza facilitated the offense with 33 assists. With the victory, the Banana Slugs will take on No. 1 seeded Christopher Newport University tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. PT.

How It Happened
Margo Melgoza got the scoring started for the day with a sneaky kill as UCSC jumped out to an early 4-1 lead with kills from Riley Sawyer and Charlotte Skulte along with a Kate Lau ace. The Sea Gulls were quick to counter, going on a 10-2 run to take an 11-6 lead, stealing momentum in the first set. The Banana Slugs were able to close the gap to three points at 15-12 and later two at 18-16 thanks to kills from Gabia Paliulis, Charlotte Skulte, and Khloe Pavia, forcing a Salisbury timeout. Despite the late surge from UC Santa Cruz, Salisbury managed to close out the set with a 7-4 advantage, taking set one 25-20.

The second set looked grim in the early going as the Sea Gulls rattled off four straight points, but the Banana Slugs regrouped, climbing within one at 8-7 with kills from Melgoza, Skulte, Alice Taylor, and Sydney Janowitz. Salisbury used a quick 3-0 run to extend the lead to 11-7, but UCSC responded with a 7-1 run to force a Salisbury timeout, leading the Sea Gulls 14-12. From there, the two teams battled back and forth, working to three separate ties before UCSC broke loose with four straight points to go up 20-17. The Sea Gulls continued to fight, cutting the deficit to one at 20-19 and again at 23-22, forcing a UCSC timeout. Out of the break, Olivia Phillips recorded a kill with Sydney Janowitz and Phillips recording a block to end set two 25-22 in favor of the Slugs.

The match continued to be neck and neck as Pavia picked up two kills to start the third set as UCSC jumped out to an early 5-3 advantage. UC Santa Cruz was forced to take an early timeout as Salisbury took six straight points to take the lead at 9-5. Out of the break, Salisbury continued to work, increasing their lead to 14-8 but UC Santa Cruz clawed back with an 8-3 run to cut the lead to 17-16. Salisbury was able to string together four points to go up 21-16, putting the pressure on UCSC late in the set. From there, the Banana Slugs began to climb back, scoring three straight before striking again after a Salisbury timeout, using kills from Sydney Janowitz and Riley Sawyer to tie the set at 23-23. A service error put the Sea Gulls at set point at 24-23, but a Sawyer kill and Sea Gull error put UCSC in the driver's seat at 25-24, forcing Salisbury to take their final timeout. Following the timeout, Shiraz Benyoucef hammered home the service ace to seal set three 26-24, putting UCSC up 2-1 in the match.

With momentum on their side, the Banana Slugs soared in set four, starting the set with a kill from Khloe Pavia and one from Charlotte Skulte before jumping out to a 10-6 advantage. The Slugs didn't slow down as Benyoucef continued to dish out aces, recording three straight points from the service line to put UCSC on top 16-8. Kills from Sawyer and Skulte put the Slugs up 18-12, putting Salisbury nearly out of reach but the Sea Gulls had other plans as they made one final push. The Sea Gulls surged with a 7-2 run, cutting the UC Santa Cruz lead, to just one point at 20-19, forcing the Slugs to call a timeout. Out of the break, UC Santa Cruz scored four straight with kills from Phillips and Sawyer with Phillips dishing out an ace while Sawyer assisted Skulte on a block. The Sea Gulls managed to counter with a 4-0 run of their own, cutting the lead to 24-23 but a block from Charlotte Skulte and Khloe Pavia was the finishing touch as UC Santa Cruz took the set 25-23, sealing the 3-1 victory and their spot in the Conference Championship.