Sept. 20, 2009
On a night when the Broncos had five freshmen on the court for long stretches, Santa Clara defeated Seattle 3-0 on Saturday night, completing a perfect 3-0 record at the Cal Poly Invitational and pushing its record to 8-4. Game scores were 25-22, 25-22 and 25-23.
Santa Clara's Lindsy Davigeadono and Dana Knudsen were both named to the all-tournament team.
"Having five freshmen on the court tonight was a good experience for us," said Santa Clara head coach Jon Wallace. "They played ok, not great, but ok. But again, it was a good experience."
"Bridget O'Hara played very well for us as the libero," added Wallace, who said Tanya Schmidt and Davigeadono also played big rolls for the Broncos vs. Seattle.
Santa Clara hit .218 with six team blocks, collecting nine aces; and Seattle hit .212 with 10 team blocks. Katherine Douglas led Santa Clara with 12 kills, while Dana Knudsen collected seven kills and Sam Peters contributed six kills and four total blocks, hitting .600. Kayla Lommori finished with six service aces to go along with four kills and three digs, and Alexandra Palmer and Emily Burke, running the 6-2 offense, collected 18 assists and 14 assists, respectively.
Seattle took a five-point lead early in the first set before Santa Clara scored six straight points to pull ahead, 12-11. After a Seatttle block put Seattle back ahead, the Broncos scored the next four points to take the lead for good. The Redhawks came within one point late in the set, but a kill by Schmidt closed out the first set in Santa Clara's favor.
Seattle to scored six of the first seven points in the second set, but Santa Clara again seized control, this time with a 12-2 run punctuated by four straight service aces by Kayla Lommori. Seattle again came within one point more than once near the end of the set, but a Redhawk service error allowed Santa Clara to win the set and take a 2-0 lead.
Santa Clara took a five-point lead of its own in the third set before Seattle started its comeback with three kills and then three more Seattle kills helped the team move into the lead at 20-15. A 10-3 run by Santa Clara, capped by a kill from Katherine Douglas, gave the Broncos the set and the match.