REDLANDS, Ca. – The Sagehens fell to the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs on the road 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-23). As a team, the Sagehens swung at a .175 clip with Chloe Kerstein leading the team with eight kills. Adrienne Tong dished out 17 assists while picking up nine digs. Pomona-Pitzer will be back in action on Tuesday, Sept. 21 when they travel to Chapman to open up SCIAC competition at 7:00 p.m.

How It Happened

The Sagehens fell behind early in set one after two errors and a kill gave UC Santa Cruz a 3-0 lead. UC Santa Cruz increased their lead to 7-3 but the Sagehens were able to pull within one at 10-9. The Banana Slugs continued charging forward, working their way to a 14-11 lead but the Sagehens forced back-to-back errors to make it 14-13. This would be the closed the Sagehens would come in set one as UC Santa Cruz closed out the set on a 11-4 run.

Pomona-Pitzer lead in the early going of set two, utilizing kills from Laurel Park, and Kellen Hayes to make it 6-2. The Banana Slugs responded quickly, taking a 10-7 lead, forcing a Pomona-Pitzer timeout. Out of the break, the Sagehens went on a 5-0 run to regain the lead at 12-10 but the Banana Slugs answered with a 5-0 run of their own to make it 15-12. Set two would see another 5-0 run as the Sagehens regained the lead at 17-15. Pomona-Pitzer worked towards a 21-18 lead but a late 7-1 surge from UC Santa Cruz gave the Banana Slugs a 2-0 lead in the contest.

The Banana Slugs took a 4-1 lead with an ace and three kills, but the Sagehens responded with kills from Chloe Gill, Adrienne Tong, Kellan Hayes, and Chloe Kerstein to take an 11-6 lead. Pomona-Pitzer continued to add to the lead, working to a 14-8 lead but UC Santa Cruz pushed back, knotting that game at 15-15. From there, the Sagehens battled with a Chloe Gill service ace along with kill from Kerstein and Tong to take a 21-17 lead. UC Santa Cruz held the Sagehens to just two more points in the set as the Banana Slugs went on an 8-2 run to take the set 25-23 and earn the 3-0 sweep.

What's Up Next

As mentioned, the Sagehens will take on the Chapman Panthers on Tuesday, Sept. 21 at 7:00 p.m.