Sept. 21, 2002
The 19th-ranked Santa Clara University women's volleyball team played their best match of the season despite losing 3-1 to No. 8 Minnesota Saturday morning at the Denver Invitational.
Facing their second top-10 opponent in the last eight days, the Broncos (9-2) dropped game one to the Golden Gophers (12-2) by a score of 30-28. Santa Clara answered right back in game two with a 30-27 win despite being out-hit .324 to .220.
Game three and four both favored Minnesota by 30-27 scores as the Golden Gophers hit .270 in each of those games while the Broncos hit .146 and .308 respectively.
For the second-straight day freshman Alyssa Lantz set a career-high in kills, this time posting 16 on 35 attempts for Santa Clara. Junior Becky Potter recorded her sixth double-double of the season, registering a team-high 17 kills to go along with her 10 digs.
Setter Kelli Sousa posted 61 assists and eight digs in the match, while outside hitter Megan Johnston recorded nine kills and 12 digs. Chrissy Hirsch led the team in digs for the second straight day with 13, while Cassie Perret and Becky Biniek rounded out the four Broncos in double-digit kills with 14 and 11 respectively.
Cassie Busse led Minnesota to their 12th win on the season with her match-high 23 kills on only 44 attempts, while Jessica Byrnes posted 16 kills and Erin Lorenzen added 11. Lindsey Vander Well registered 55 assists and 10 digs for the Golden Gophers while Paula Gentil had a match-high 17 digs.
Santa Clara will conclude its play in the Denver Invitational Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. when it takes on the host, University of Denver. The Pioneers entered their own tournament with a 0-7 record and were swept by Minnesota on Friday night.