BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University men's volleyball team will make the 2,157-mile trip to Santa Cruz, Calif. to play in the University of California Santa Cruz Slug Slam Friday-Saturday, Jan. 20-21. The Titans (1-0) are slated for four matches in two days.

Illinois Wesleyan begins its trip with a match against California Lutheran University at 10:45 a.m. PST, Friday, Jan. 20, and will conclude the first day of action with a match against Fontbonne University at 7:45 p.m. PST. The Titans open the second day of the Slug Slam against the host team, UC Santa Cruz, at 10:45 a.m. PST. IWU will finish its west coast trip with a dual against Edgewood College at 7:45 p.m. PST. 

The Green and White swept Wabash College Tuesday night, Jan. 17, with set scores of 25-19, 25-20, 25-20, to open the 2023 season. Junior Michael Eastman (Chicago, Ill.-Saint Ignatius) led the well-balanced offense with a match-high nine kills, while sophomore Luke Hartke (Barrington, Ill.-Barrington) added eight. Junior Bradley Benson (Lemont, Ill.-Lemont Township) notched a team-high 13 assists and three aces, the most by a player in the match.

Eastman and junior Adam Blackmore (Geneva, Ill.-Geneva) paced the IWU defense with four digs each, while sophomore Ryan Myers (Hawthorn Woods, Ill.-Stevenson) contributed a match-high four blocks. 

Cal Lutheran most recently defeated Endicott College in four sets Saturday, Jan. 14 to move to 1-1 on the season. Fontbonne and Edgewood will both open the 2023 season at the Slug Slam, while UC Santa Cruz and Cal Lutheran will play each other Thursday, Jan. 19, prior to the start of the tournament. 

IWU has faced Fontbonne three times prior to the match on Friday, Fontbonne having won all three. The most recent faceoff took place on Feb. 8, 2022, with the Griffins taking the four-set victory. This will mark the first time the Titans have played against Cal Lutheran, UCSC, and Edgewood. 

All four games will be live streamed on the UC Santa Cruz YouTube page, which can be accessed here. Live stats for each match can be found here.