Banana Slugs Go 2-2 on Weekend Midwest Roadtrip

Wednesday, March 25

Naperville, Ill.

5:00 PM PT

UC Santa Cruz Athletics

15-4,0-0DIII Independent

North Central College

10-9,4-3CCIW

UC Santa Cruz

North Central (IL)

3/28/2026 6:40:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Box Score 3 Box Score 4

NAPERVILLE, Ill. — The UC Santa Cruz men's volleyball team split a pair of matches on its Midwest road trip, sweeping North Central 3-0 on Wednesday before falling to Benedictine 3-1 on Thursday. The Banana Slugs split a doubleheader at Igini Sports Forum on Friday, sweeping Illinois Tech 3-0 before falling to Dominican 3-1 in the nightcap. The Banana Slugs move to 16-6 on the season and will return to action on Saturday, April 4th against Cal Lutheran.

UC Santa Cruz 3, North Central 0
The Banana Slugs were dominant from start to finish, sweeping North Central 25-18, 25-22, 25-15. UCSC hit .432 as a team and never trailed in the third set. Riley Norman led the attack with 11 kills on a .625 hitting percentage to go along with seven digs. Evan Erickson was efficient with nine kills on 11 swings without an error for an .818 clip. Drake Harris added eight kills and a service ace, while Noy Fisher chipped in six kills hitting .455. Caio Valente ran the offense with 19 assists, and Logan Taylor added 18 assists. Kyle Ownbey contributed four kills and a solo block.

Benedictine 3, UC Santa Cruz 1
The Banana Slugs battled but fell to Benedictine 25-27, 25-21, 26-24, 25-21 in a tightly contested match that featured 24 tie scores and eight lead changes. Riley Norman paced the offense with 21 kills hitting .320 while adding two aces and 13 digs for a strong all-around performance. Kyle Ownbey recorded eight kills and three block assists, and Noy Fisher added eight kills on a .313 clip. AJ Contreras came off the bench with six kills, and Evan Erickson contributed five kills. Caio Valente dished out 28 assists and Logan Taylor added 16 assists and 16 digs. Marcus Donchuanchom anchored the defense with 15 digs.

UC Santa Cruz 3, Illinois Tech 0
The Banana Slugs were firing on all cylinders in the opener, hitting .461 as a team in a dominant 25-14, 25-19, 25-23 sweep. UCSC hit .682 in the first set and never looked back. Evan Erickson led the way with nine kills on a .727 clip, and Riley Norman added nine kills hitting .389 with four digs. Noy Fisher contributed eight kills and seven service aces for a team-high 15 points. AJ Contreras chipped in seven kills hitting .429, and Kyle Ownbey was efficient with three kills on four swings without an error. Logan Taylor ran the offense with 23 assists and added three aces, while Caio Valente dished out 12 assists.

Dominican 3, UC Santa Cruz 1
The Banana Slugs took the first set 25-19 but couldn't hold off Dominican in a 25-22, 24-26, 16-25 loss over the final three sets. Riley Norman led the attack with 11 kills and eight digs, and Drake Harris added eight kills with five digs and four service errors. Noy Fisher recorded seven kills hitting .364 and three service aces. Kyle Ownbey contributed seven kills on a .357 hitting percentage. Logan Taylor dished out 26 assists with five digs, and Caio Valente added 10 assists.