AURORA, Ill. (March 31, 2023) – (RV) Loras College men's volleyball is about to hit the home stretch of the regular season and got a much-needed win on Friday afternoon against the University of California, Santa Cruz.

The Duhawks (16-5) toppled the Banana Slugs (19-11) 3-1 in a neutral site match in Aurora, Ill. on Friday night thanks to one of the better offensive outputs of the entire season for Loras. The team's 57 kills marks the fourth time the Duhawks have tallied 50+ in a game this season, but it's just the second time they've done it in a four-set match.

Set one was never in jeopardy for the Duhawks as they used a sensational 13-2 run to take a commanding 16-5 lead before cruising to a 25-11 victory. Senior middle blocker Patrick Mahoney got the last laugh in a balanced offensive set for Loras as he tallied the final two Duhawk kills to punctuate the set.

The Banana Slugs kept things closer in the second set as neither team could get away from the other. Down the stretch, the Duhawks held a 23-20 lead, but three straight UCSC points knotted things up at 23-23. Senior hitter Dorian Fiorenza smashed an important kill for Loras that made it 24-23 before a Banana Slug attacking error ended the frame.

Despite the loss, the Banana Slugs rode the momentum of a close second set into the third and worked their way to a 24-21 lead. Fiorenza's kill gave the serve back to Loras before three straight kills from sophomore hitter Corey Mayotte tied it up at 24-24 and nullified four straight set point chances for UCSC. The Banana Slugs managed to claim the next three points and escape with a 27-25 win and fend off the potential sweep.

Loras wasn't too pleased with getting pushed to a fourth set as the Duhawks used a couple of big swings to stretch their lead out to as many as 10 in the set as Mayotte finished things off with another kill, giving Loras a 25-16 win.

Mayotte's final kill was his match-high 19^th of the evening as he registered just three errors to tally a .444 attacking percentage. Fiorenza finished with 14 kills while Mahoney had 13 and zero attacking errors to hit .813 on the evening. All three were the beneficiaries of senior setter Joe Horn, who tallied 43 assists in the match.

Loras gets back to College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) play tomorrow, Saturday April 1, when the Duhawks play North Park University in Chicago, Ill. at 3 P.M.