UC Santa Cruz Falls to Willamette and No. 11 La Verne at Whittier Classic

Friday, September 11

La Verne, CA

10:00 AM

UC Santa Cruz Athletics

2-3,0-0CAC

Willamette University

3-2,0-0NWC

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Willamette	20	25	25	25	3
UC Santa Cruz	25	20	13	21	1

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
UC Santa Cruz	15	19	26	13	1
La Verne	25	25	24	25	3

UC Santa Cruz Falls to Willamette and No. 11 La Verne at Whittier Classic

9/11/2026 10:49:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

LA VERNE, Calif. – The UC Santa Cruz women's volleyball team dropped back-to-back matches at the Whittier Classic, falling to Willamette 3-1 (20-25, 25-20, 25-13, 25-21) before ending the day with a 3-1 (25-15, 25-19, 24-26, 25-13) loss to the No. 11 La Verne Leopards. Kate Lau led the offense against the Bearcats with 12 kills and 21 digs while Khloe Pavia recorded nine kills against the Leopards. Miya Casci facilitated the attack with 33 assists against Willamette and another 24 against La Verne. The Banana Slugs will get right back to work tomorrow, facing off with the Whittier Poets at 12:30pm before taking on Puget Sound at 3:00 p.m. at Whittier.

Willamette 3, UC Santa Cruz 1
In game one of the day the Banana Slugs fell behind early to the Willamette Bearcats, trailing 11-3 before outscoring Willamette 14-5 to erase the deficit, leading at 17-16. The run featured strong kills from Sydney Janowitz, Kate Lau, Charlotte Skulte, Alice Taylor, and Gabia Paliulis. The Slugs remained in control for the remainder of the set as Paliulis recorded back to back kills to help put UCSC up 20-17. Willamette took two of the next three points, but UCSC closed out the set with a block from Lau and Skulte along with kills from the duo, taking set one 25-20.

The Banana Slugs had the early advantage in set two, leading 4-3 and later 9-8 but the Bearcats surged forward, using a 5-0 run to take the lead at 13-9. Maddie Marshall ended the run briefly with two kills, but Willamette continued to push, increasing their lead to 18-12. UCSC closed the gap to just two points at 20-18 as the trio of Taylor, Janowitz, and Lau put together a string of kills, but Willamette held off the late run to take set two 25-20.

Willamette wasted little time in the third set, jumping out to a 12-3 lead to put the pressure on. The Bearcats kept the run going as they climbed to an 18-5 lead before UCSC took five of the next six points to cut the deficit to 19-10. Willamette cut the run short as they outscored UCSC 6-3 to win set three 25-13. The Slugs fought well in set four, taking an early 4-1 lead but the two teams traded attacks, eventually working to a 17-17 tie. The Slugs capitalized on an error from the Bearcats to go up 18-17 but Willamette rattled off six straight points to go up 23-18. UCSC responded with kills from Maddie Marshall and Olivia Phillips along with an ace from Alessandra Ponzo to close the deficit to 24-21, but Willamette recorded the final kill to take the set 25-21 and win the set 3-1.

La Verne 3, UC Santa Cruz 1
The Banana Slugs struck first against No. 11 La Verne with a kill from Alice Taylor. UC Santa Cruz had the early edge as they worked to a 5-4 lead with kills from Charlotte Skulte and an ace from Kate Lau. From there, the Leopards found their footing, climbing to a 13-8 lead and later a 20-11 lead. La Verne was able to close out the set and earn the 25-15 win.

Set two featured a similar start as UCSC quickly jumped out to a 4-0 lead and later led 8-2 as Khloe Pavia earned a kill while Miya Casci recorded an ace. La Verne erased the deficit and took a 16-12 lead. UCSC worked hard to fight back, closed the gap to three points at 22-19 but ran out of steam as ULV took set two 25-19.

Set three proved to be a thriller as La Verne had the early advantage, taking a 6-3 advantage before going up 11-7. UCSC stayed in the fight, forcing a tie at 12-12 with a kill from Alice Taylor and an Alessandra Ponzo ace. ULV responded, surging to a 19-13 lead but UCSC answered with a 6-2 run to close the gap to 21-19. The end seemed near as ULV went up 24-21 but two Leopards errors followed by kills from Shiraz Benyoucef and Ella Sniezek put the Slugs up 25-24. Benyoucef delivered the final blow with an ace to take set three 26-24.

UC Santa Cruz kept the momentum early as they took a 4-2 lead and later led 6-5 but ULV rallied back quickly to go up 21-11. UCSC was only able to record two more points in the set as the Leopards scored four straight to take set four 25-13, earning the 3-1 victory over the Banana Slugs.