No. 11 UCSC Drops No. 9 Aurora in Five Set Thriller

Naperville, Ill. – The No. 11 UC Santa Cruz men's volleyball team earned a thrilling five set 3-2 (26-24, 20-25, 25-17, 20-25, 15-10) victory over the No. 9 Aurora University Spartans on Monday night in Illinois. Drake Harris, Nick Nayak, and Riley Norman led the attack with 19 kills, 16 kills, and 15 kills respectively while Caio Valento dished out 47 assists. Norman and Valente were also defensive standouts with the pair both recording 16 digs with Marcus Donchuanchom picking up 15 of his own. The Banana Slugs will be back in action on March 25th when they take on North Central College at 5pm PT.

Match Highlights

The first set was neck and neck all the way to 14-14 before UCSC finally broke away with a 4-0 run with back to back aces from Drake Harris. The Spartans quickly countered, tying the game at 19-19 and later 24-24 but a kill from Drake Harris and an untimely attack error gave UCSC the 26-24 set one win.
Set two was closely contest but Aurora had the edge late in the set. The Banana Slugs cut the deficit to 19-18 but the Spartans closed out the set on a 6-2 run to win 25-20.
The Slugs struck first in set three and never looked back, opening the game on a 9-2 run with kills from Drake Harris, Nick Nayak, and Kyle Ownbey. UCSC continued to hold off Aurora, increasing their lead to 20-12. From there the two teams went an even 5-5 down the stretch with a block from Ownbey and Harris ending the set 25-17 in favor of UCSC.
In set four, UCSC had the early edge at 8-7 but tides began to turn as Aurora built a 17-11 advantage. The Banana Slugs closed the gap to three points at 19-16 and later 20-17 but the Spartans outscored UCSC 5-3 to take set four 25-20.
The Banana Slugs had a blistering start to the fifth set, using a 7-0 run with kills from Nayak and Harris along with aces from Riley Norman. UCSC continued to charge forward, working to a 10-3 advantage but Aurora closed the gap to 13-10 to put the pressure on late. Despite the Spartans' surge, UCSC closed out the set with a kill from Norman and one from Harris to win 15-10 and earn the 3-2 victory overall.

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Team Stats

Drake Harris

Nick Nayak

Riley Norman

Kyle Ownbey

Players Mentioned

Marcus Donchuanchom

Drake Harris

Nick Nayak

Riley Norman

Kyle Ownbey

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