CUW Splits Saturday Play in Santa Cruz

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. - The CUW men's volleyball team moved to 1-3 on the season after splitting matches on Saturday in Santa Cruz. The Falcons started the day with a 3-2 victory, after falling to the Banana Slugs on Friday and trailing 0-2. The Blue and White wrapped up the weekend with a 0-3 loss to an undefeated Menlo team that is ranked second in NAIA.

CUW opened the day against California-Santa Cruz.

The first set started tight with no team taking more than a four-point lead.  The Banana Slugs took a 21-19 lead before a timeout from the Falcons. Out of the timeout, the Banana Slugs went on a 4-1 run to take the first set 25-20. Senior James Althoff (Kenosha, Wis.) led the Falcon offense with four kills in the first set as well as one block assist.  Freshman Logan Kebisek (Brookfield, Wis.) recorded seven assists in the set.

The second set started similar to the first with back and forth plays.  The Banana Slugs crept out to a four-point lead with a score of 13-9.  The Falcons bit into that lead with a kill from Althoff and a Banana Slug ball handling error to bring it back within two at 11-13. Another Althoff kill and a block from freshman Lucas Beres (Germantown, Wis.) and sophomore Spencer Herman (Appleton, Wis.) brought the Falcons back to within one at 13-14. The Banana Slugs went on a 3-0 run to take the 17-13 lead and force a Falcon timeout. They went on another 3-0 run out of the timeout to take the 20-13 lead late in the second set. Spencer Herman was able to snap the 7-0 run with a kill to push the score to 21-14. A kill by senior Cody Sciabica (Henderson, Nev.) after a pair of UCSC points took the Falcons to a score of 15-23. The Banana Slugs went on a 2-1 run to take the second set with a final score of 25-16 and push the match to 2-0 in favor of UCSC.

The third set saw yet another tight start with the Falcons jumping out to a 7-5 lead in the first frames. After a mix of both teams' points, the score came back to be tied at eight off a kill from Spencer Herman. A pair of Falcon points from Banana Slug errors pushed the Falcons out to an 11-9 lead in the middle of the third set. Sophomore Alex Holland (Fond Du Lac, Wis.) saw his first action of the match in the third set with a block to put the Falcons up 13-12.  That was followed by a kill from Althoff to give the Falcons the 14-12 lead. A free ball picked up by senior Turner Fuhrer (Kenosha, Wis.) turned into an assist from Kebisek on a kill from Herman for the 15-12 Falcon lead. The Banana Slugs went on a 5-0 run after a mix of points to take the 18-16 set lead. Another kill from Herman ended the UCSC run and put the Falcons back to within one. With his first appearance of the year at the outside position, typical middle junior Andy Ellingham (Burlington, Wis.) came up with a big kill to pull the Falcons within two at 19-21. The Falcons were forced to take a timeout. Out of the timeout, head coach Curtis Madson recorded a coach's point with the Banana Slug service error. The Falcons pulled back to tie the game at 24.  With the game tied at 24, the UCSC setter went up to dump but was met by the arms of Ellingham for the block to give the Falcons the 25-24 lead. With a one-point advantage, Althoff went back to the service line with force and took an ace down the sideline to win the set in extras at 26-24.

The match entered the fourth set with the Banana Slugs up 2-1 after the Falcon extra point victory.  This was the second extra-point set win by the Falcons in the two-game series. UC-Santa Cruz came out hot in the fourth set with a 4-0 run to begin the fourth. This run was ended by a Herman kill to pull the Falcons back within three at 1-4. With a pair of kills from Althoff and one from Ellingham held UCSC at a three-point lead with a score of 4-7. A mix of points later saw the Falcons take a timeout with the Banana Slugs leading 12-6.  This timeout led to another coach's point on a UCSC service error to put the score to 12-7. A pair of Falcon kills, one from Ellingham and one from Herman, brought the Falcons back to within three late with a score of 17-14. The Banana Slugs took the four-point lead at 19-15 after a couple of Falcon errors late in the fourth set. A pair of Falcon kills late in the fourth set from Althoff and Herman as well as a service ace from Holland brought them within two points with a score of 19-21.  UCSC was forced to take a timeout to try and slow down the Falcon offense late in this do or go home set for the Falcons. The momentum in their favor, the Falcons came out of the timeout with a huge block from Kebisek and Beres to cut the deficit to one. A kill from Althoff tied the game at 21 with Alex Holland on the service line coming to the end of the set. After the Banana Slugs recorded their 22nd point of the contest, Althoff came out and threw everything he had into a ball on the outside and pushed it through the block for the Falcons' 22nd point and tie the set up once again. Althoff just could not be stopped on the outside at the end of the fourth set with another kill to put the Falcons up 24-23. The Blue and White stayed tenacious through the end of the set taking another set in extras at 26-24 after a kill from Herman and a block on the attempted setter dump by Ellingham.

The Falcons went into the winner take all fifth set with a chance at a reverse sweep. Two kills from Althoff and a kill from Beres later and the Falcons were looking at a 5-5, fifth set. The Banana Slugs notched a 2-0 run and forced the Falcons to call a timeout at the halfway point of this final set. This timeout led to the third coach's point with another service error after a Falcon timeout of the matchup. A kill from Herman, a big block from Ellingham and Holland, and another kill from Holland led to a tied set at nine late in the fifth set. A 3-1 run from the Banana Slugs was broken by an Althoff kill to make the score 11-12 with few points left in the match. Another Althoff kill and a UCSC error later gave the Falcons the 13-12 lead in this set to 15 and forced the Banana Slugs to take a timeout. The Falcons worked off the Banana Slug attack for as long as they could, but a ball hit the floor late to cut the Falcon lead to one at 14-13. A service error from the Slugs gave the Falcons their first win of the season in a dramatic fashion.

James Althoff led the Falcons with 25 kills on 48 attempts hitting a staggering .417 on the match.  He also added two aces and nine digs to his line.

Kebisek dished out a total of 43 assists during the first match of the day.

The Oaks of Menlo proved why they are undefeated on the year on Saturday afternoon.

The first set started with neither team able to build a lead bigger than two points. An attacking error gave the Falcons their lone lead of the set at 7-6. The Oaks stormed back with a 9-0 run. Trailing 7-15, the Falcons won the next two points before Menlo pushed the lead to 23-10. The Falcons cut into the deficit behind the serve of Logan Kebisek to take the match to 23-15. Menlo won the next two points to take the set at 25-15.

The Oaks once again broke the set open again in the second set tied at seven. A 10-2 run put the set out of reach and Menlo took the set at 25-16.

The Falcons kept the Oaks within reach throughout the third set. Menlo posted the largest lead of the set at 19-14, but the Falcons did not fold and cut the deficit to two points on two occasions before Menlo won 25-21.

Spencer Herman led the match with 15 kills and led the flock with seven digs three blocks.

Logan Kebisek finished the match with 25 assists.