Nov. 14, 2005
Santa Clara, Calif. - The winning streak may be over, but the hunger to succeed is still with the No. 12 Santa Clara women's volleyball team. After winning 15 consecutive matches, dating back to mid-September, Santa Clara (22-2, 11-1 WCC) stumbled and fell in five games to No. 22 San Diego last Friday, giving the Broncos their only conference loss this year. However, the 2005 West Coast Conference Champions has already put the past behind them and looking forward to recapturing some momentum heading into the NCAA Tournament.
"The girls are ready to redeem themselves after their performance against San Diego," said head coach Jon Wallace. "It was disappointing to lose a match so close to the postseason, but we'll use it to motivate and refocus the team."
Ranked No. 13 in the country, the Golden Bears enters Tuesday's showdown with the Broncos sporting an overall record of 17-7 and 10-5 in the Pacific-10 Conference. California is coming off of a 2-0 weekend, when the team defeated Arizona State 3-0 on Thursday night and knocked off No. 6 Arizona 3-1 the following evening. Angie Pressey is the leading attacker for Cal, as she is averaging 4.24 kills per game, while adding 2.60 digs per game. Four other players are putting down at least 2.00 kills per game, enabling setter Samantha Carter to run a varied offense to the tune of 12.82 assists per game and a team hitting percentage of .245 on the year. On the defense end, Jillian Davis has proven to be one of the best liberos on the West Coast, picking up 4.67 balls a game, while middle blocker Ellen Orchard is blocking 1.22 balls per game.
Although California leads the all-time series 23-8, Santa Clara came out with a 3-0 victory at the Leavey Center when the two teams faced off last season. Revenge will be on the minds of their Bay Area opponents, but the Broncos will be prepared for whatever the Golden Bears throw at them on the road.
"Cal is a tough team to play. They are balanced and present a lot of problems to their opponents. It's going to be a battle, especially playing at Haas [Pavilion], so we've got our team ready to go."
