Menlo vs. UC Santa Cruz - Game Stats

Menlo Season Stats

ATHERTON, Calif. - Building off its strong the showing the night before, Menlo College stormed out of the gates only to falter late in a tense 19-25, 18-25, 25-14, 25-19, 15-13 loss to a strong UC Santa Cruz squad on Wednesday night inside Haynes-Prim Pavilion.

After dropping two straight games that could have ended the match, Menlo led 13-10 in the decisive game five only to have the visiting Banana Slugs tally the final five points of the match in front of a raucous crowd. The Oaks are now 3-7 overall heading into their California Pacific Conference opener on Friday night at Holy Names. UC Santa Cruz is 11-2 and has won five straight.

In the opening game, the Oaks started and finished fast. Menlo jumped out to an 8-2 advantage as Brittany Sudduth had a pair of kills and assisted on a block. After UC Santa Cruz found its way back into the game and took a 12-11 lead, the Oaks finished the game on a 14-7 run. Deborah Bekowies had three kills during the stretch while Sarah Poole had a kill and a block.

Menlo continued its fine form in game two, jumping out to a 5-1 advantage and never trailing. Shelby Goldman had back-to-back aces early on while freshman Stephenie Monderine had three big kills to help stretch the Oaks lead to as big as 19-9 before they coasted to the win.

Things turned in the third game of the night as the Banana Slugs took the lead for good at 3-2 and cruised from there. The visitors led for much of the fourth game as well, holding off Menlo late after Sudduth's kill trimmed the Oaks deficit to 21-19.

Unfortunately for Menlo, game five proved to be more frustrating than the previous two games. The Oaks two Katie Pendley kills to take the lead and four from Poole to stretch the cushion to 12-8. Bekowies killed a ball off a Stephanie Williamson assist for a 13-10 advantage, but it was the last point of the night for Menlo.

Williamson led everyone with 41 assists on the night while Poole and Pendley finished with 12 kills apiece. Bekowies tallied 11 kills and six blocks, while Mia Ortiz led four Oaks with double-figure digs at 20.

Jackie McRory had a game-high 13 kills for the Banana Slugs while Amy Knight totaled 24 assists and Dana Johnson 17 digs. Johnson also had six service aces.