Nov. 22, 2003
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The 13th-ranked Santa Clara University women's volleyball team clinched second place in the West Coast Conference with its 3-2 victory over 16th-ranked Loyola Marymount Saturday evening in the Leavey Center. SCU improves to 20-9 on the season and finishes league play with an 11-3 mark while LMU falls to 25-6 overall and 10-4 in WCC action.
After winning the first game by a 30-22 score and dropping the next two by counts of 28-30 and 23-30, the Broncos rallied to win the final two games by scores of 30-25 and 15-12.
Balance was the key to the Broncos success on Saturday as five players were in double-digit kills while five others were in double-digit digs. Becky Potter and Cassie Perret were the only two who combined their efforts as Potter notched 23 kills and 12 digs to go along with Perret's 16 kills and 11 digs.
Toni Muratore added 19 kills for the Broncos along with Becky Biniek and Kim McGiven who chipped in with 15 and 12, respectively. Kristen Luxton's 30 digs paced the SCU defense as Kelli Sousa added 13 while Lexie Bothman had 12.
Luxton's 30 digs set a new career-high and marked the first time in 10 years that a Santa Clara player had reach that mark in a single match.
Kealani Kimball and Tiana Newsome were two major forces on the LMU side as each put away 21 kills in the loss. Kelli Nerison added 11 but also had 11 total blocks on the evening, leading the way for LMU as the team registered 17.5 total blocks on the evening.
Libero Jacen Dimson had a team-high 17 digs on the evening while Kimball had 16 to lead the Lions' defense.
Santa Clara setter Kelli Sousa notched a match-high 73 on the evening and led the Broncos to a .262 hitting percentage compared to her counterpart Nicole Oehlman whose 64 assists led to a .249 hitting mark for LMU.
Santa Clara out-dug the Lions 91-69 on the night but had 5.5 less total blocks, which counter-acted the 12 additional kills that the Broncos had on the evening.
SCU concludes the 2003 regular season at home against cross-town rival and seventh-ranked Stanford Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. in the Leavey Center. Following that match the Broncos will await word on their postseason fate, as the NCAA Tournament field of 64 will be announced on Sunday, November 30th, live at 5 p.m. on ESPNews.
