Sept. 3, 2005
SANTA CLARA, Calif. While still early in the 2005 season, the Santa Clara women's volleyball team showed Saturday morning that any one of their players can step up and give the team a lift when needed.
Despite dropping the first game of their match Saturday morning against the UNLV Rebels and having to deal with what head coach Jon Wallace called an "awkward" flow to the contest, the Santa Clara women's volleyball team resolutely fought its way to a 3-1 (27-30, 30-27, 30-26, 30-21) victory Saturday morning at the Holiday Inn Sunset Classic in Irvine to improve to 2-0 on the season.
"I thought we played very well this morning, we hit really well except for making too many errors by the side of the net that kept them in the match," said Wallace. "Although we were playing well, I felt that we were playing uphill the whole time, but we stuck together and pulled out a win and it showed good character."
Junior outside hitter Kim McGiven again led the Bronco attack, turning in another double-double effort, posting 13 digs and a career-high 21 kills. Freshman Brittany Lowe, a native of nearby Yorba Linda, Calif., produced the first double-double of her young collegiate career, notching 10 kills and 11 digs.
Wallace credited a pair of Santa Clara's sophomore standouts with stepping up in the win as well.
"Anna Cmaylo played great and got us out of a lot of trouble, and Caroline Walters kept us in the match emotionally and we needed that leadership," added Wallace.
Middle blocker Cmaylo recorded 16 kills in the match, second on the team only to McGiven, and led all Broncos with a hitting percentage of .483 and seven blocks. Walters, a libero out of Los Gatos, Calif., made 23 digs and continued to put herself in the right place on the court for the Broncos throughout the match.
Another sophomore, setter Crystal Matich, posted 59 assists in the match and added a career-high five service aces against the Rebels.
Santa Clara returns to action tonight at 7:30 p.m. against host UC Irvine (2-2).
