The Aurora University Spartan men's volleyball team battled the weather outside which caused a delay to the start of the contest and then the Banana Slugs. AU stromed out to a 2-0 lead before dropping the last three sets and falling 3-2.


MATCH SCORE:  University of California Santa Cruz 3, Aurora University 2 (25-22, 25-23, 16-25, 19-25, 12-15)
LOCATION: Thornton Gymnasium - Aurora, Illinois
RECORDS: Aurora University 12-10 overall, University of California Santa Cruz 20-10 overall 


- AU came out quickly in the first set, storming out to an early 11-5 lead before going on to win 25-22.
- Five Spartans led by four kills each from Adam Gebala and John McCormack had multiple kill efforts.
- The Spartans roared out to an early lead once again in the second set but had to hang on late and won 25-23.
- James Karwin had four kills as did McCormack and AU had a commanding 2-0 lead.
- A monster attack frm Martin McKee gave AU a 6-5 lead in the third set but then the attack went cold for the Spartans.
- Santa Cruz won the set 25-16.
- The fourth set was closely played early with the score tied 9-9 but again the Spartans couldn't match the Banana Slugs and fell 25-19 forcing a winner take all fifth set.
- AU fell behind 7-2 and 9-3 in the fifth set with also using both timeouts.
- The Spartans mounted a 7-1 scoring run and tied the score 10-10.
- The visitors took advantage or a rotation error for an ace and a hitting error to build a 13-10 lead.
- Kills from McCormack and Gebala cut the deficit to 14-12 but that wasn't enough as AU lost 15-12 and the match 3-2.


Kills: John McCormack (18), Matthew Nelson (12) and James Karwein (11)
Assists: James Karwin (42)
Blocks: Martin McKee (4) 
Digs:  Alex Nonhof (19) and James Karwin (9)
Aces: Martin McKee and John McCormack (2)

Next action for the Spartan men's volleyball team comes on Saturday, April 1 when they host Concordia University Chicago and Lakeland University. Opening serves are slated for 12:00p.m. and 5:00 p.m. in Thornton Gymnasium.