Slugs Drop Five Set Battle to No. 13 Aurora

Saturday, March 7

Thousand Oaks, Ca.

2:00 PM

UC Santa Cruz Athletics

12-3,0-0DIII Independent

Aurora University

11-3,5-0NACC

UC Santa Cruz

Aurora

3/9/2026 10:21:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

THOUSAND OAKS, CA. The UC Santa Cruz men's volleyball team fell to Aurora 3-2 (26-24, 19-25, 25-20, 16-25, 15-9) on Saturday afternoon at Gilbert Arena. Kyle Ownbey led the team with 16 kills on a .577 hitting percentage while Riley Norman added 10 kills and a team-high 13 digs. The Banana Slugs drop to 12-3 on the season and will be back in action on Wednesday, March 11th when they host Kean University at the West Field House.

Match Highlights

The opening set was a tight affair with four tie scores and one lead change. UCSC hit .194 with 16 kills but fell 26-24.
The Banana Slugs responded in set two, hitting .250 with 14 kills to earn a 25-19 victory. The set featured 10 tie scores and four lead changes as UCSC evened the match at 1-1.
Aurora took control in set three while UCSC hit .250 with 12 kills. The Spartans took the set 25-20 to grab a 2-1 match lead.
Facing elimination, UCSC dominated set four, hitting .371 with 15 kills to cruise to a 25-16 victory and force a decisive fifth set.
Aurora pulled away in the fifth set, taking a 15-9 victory to clinch the match. Noy Fisher finished with 10 kills and two aces while Evan Erickson added eight kills and three block assists. Nick Nayak contributed nine kills and two aces while Drake Harris added 10 kills and nine digs. Caio Valente dished out 27 assists and Logan Taylor added 17 while Marcus Donchuanchom anchored the defense with eight digs.?????????