Banana Slugs Drop No. 3 Carthage in Five Set Thriller

Friday, February 13

Kenosha, Wi.

5:00 PM PT

UC Santa Cruz Athletics

9-1,0-0DIII Independent

Carthage College

8-2,0-0CCIW

UC Santa Cruz

Carthage

2/14/2026 12:50:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

KENOSHA, Wi. — The No. 7 UC Santa Cruz men's volleyball team pulled off a thrilling upset over No. 3 Carthage, winning 3-2 (19-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-21, 15-13) on Friday evening at Table Arena. Riley Norman led the team with 22 kills, eight assists, and seven digs while AJ Contreras added eight kills and a team-high 13 digs. The Banana Slugs improve to 9-1 on the season and will be back in action February 14th when they take on University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in Sheboygan County, Wi.

Match Highlights

Carthage came out strong in the opening set, hitting .323 while UCSC struggled to a .000 attack percentage with six kills and six errors. Carthage took the first set 25-19.
The Banana Slugs responded in set two, hitting .207 with 11 kills to edge out a 25-22 victory. Nick Nayak and Norman led the attack as UCSC evened the match at 1-1.
Set three was a back-and-forth battle with 11 tie scores and three lead changes. Carthage hit .182 to UCSC's .263, but Carthage prevailed 25-23 to take a 2-1 match lead.
Facing elimination, UCSC dominated set four, hitting .345 with 14 kills. Kyle Ownbey was efficient with seven kills on a .353 hitting percentage while Norman continued to lead the charge. The Slugs took the set 25-21 to force a decisive fifth set.
The fifth set featured five tie scores and no lead changes after UCSC took control. The Banana Slugs hit .350 with nine kills to clinch the 15-13 victory and complete the upset.
Logan Taylor dished out 22 assists and added two aces and a solo block while Caio Valente contributed 15 assists and 10 digs. Noy Fisher added seven kills with an ace while Ownbey finished with two solo blocks and two block assists. Marcus Donchuanchom anchored the defense with seven digs and Andres Espinoza added six.