SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – Whitworth University went 1-1 on the opening day of the 2016 volleyball season, falling 3-0 to Menlo and defeating UC Santa Cruz 3-2 in the Banana Slugs' Slugfest Volleyball Invitational on Saturday.

The Pirates will finish out on Sunday at the Slugfest with contests against Mills College and Whitman College.

Menlo won the tournament opener 27-25, 25-18, 25-20 to improve to 5-4 this season.  The NAIA-member Oaks have been playing matches for two weeks.  The Pirates outhit the Oaks .171 - .144, but Whitworth had 10 service errors and gave up nine service aces.  Cassandra Mendoza had 11 kills and hit .345 for the Pirates.  She added a team-leading 13 digs.  Emiko Kahler finished with seven kills in her Pirate debut, while Brenna Bruil and Lauren Budde had six kills each.

The Whitworth offense became much more efficient in the win over UCSC by a score of 18-25, 25-11, 25-15, 21-25, 15-7.  The Pirates hit .274 as a squad, including a blistering .562 in the decisive fifth set.  Whitworth had 10 kills and only one error in the deciding stanza.  Mendoza led four Pirates in double figures in kills with 15.  Emily Kohler and Lauren Budde had 11 each, while Brenna Bruil finished with ten.  Erin White dished 44 assists and Chloe Luedecker had 15 digs.