The University of La Verne volleyball team were not so gracious hosts against visiting UC Santa Cruz, registering 14 total blocks in a 3-0 sweep past the Banana Slugs by scores of 29-27, 25-21 and 25-19 Friday night at Frantz Athletic Court.

The senior tandem of Kayla Cribbs and Kendall Kraiss led the block party with 4 and 3.5 rejections, respectively, as La Verne held UCSC to a .078 hitting percentage on the evening to earn its second win of the season against the Banana Slugs.

La Verne (18-4) fought off a set point to rally past the Slugs in the opening set.  The Leos led 14-11 in the first stanza before UCSC (10-12) went on an 8-4 run to grab a 19-18 lead.  The Leopards regained the advantage and held a 24-22 only to watch UC Santa Cruz earn the next two points to knot the set at 24.

A Leopard attack error gave the Slugs a set point, but the Leos went ahead on a ballhandling error by UCSC followed by a service ace from Catie Logan to lead 28-27.  La Verne claimed the set on the next point as a Banana Slug attack error ended the frame finish out 29-27 in favor of the Green and Orange.

Neither team was able to lead by more than two points through much of the second set resulting in a deadlock at 14 midway through the frame.  On the next point, the Leopards would took the lead for good on a kill from Cribbs to go up 15-14.  The Leos would stretch their lead to 22-18 and finished the set on another Cribbs kill to win 25-21 for a 2-0 set advantage.

The Leopards opened a 18-13 led in the third set before the Slugs countered by winning five of the next six points - culminating on a Elena Echeverria service ace - to tie the frame at 19.  That would be all for the Slugs as the Leos closed with a 6-0 run.  A service ace from Logan sandwiched between a pair of kills from Randi Taylor-Toomay put the Leopards on top 22-19.  Two straight UCSC attack errors gave La Verne a match point at 24-19. Cribbs put the finishing touches on the final point as she slammed home a Banana Slug overpass to conclude the match.

Offensively, Brittany Yaxley totaled a match-high 12 kills while Taylor-Toomay added 10.  Morgan Donahue collected 19 digs while Kraiss registered a match-high 31 assists.  UCSC's Elisabeth Trambley tallied a team-high 7 kills while libero Jaime Weber totaled 22 digs in the defeat.

La Verne had earlier defeated UC Santa Cruz 3-2 at the Posada Royale Tournament back on September 7 in Thousand Oaks.

The Leopards return to SCIAC action next Tuesday as it travels to Pasadena to face Caltech in a 7:30 pm start.