Santa Clara finished off its trip to Hawaii on a high note with a 3-1 win over New Mexico State on Saturday night. Game scores were 25-22, 17-25, 25-16 and 27-25. Santa Clara will play Kansas State Thurs., Sept. 12 at 5 pm at Cal as part of the Cal Invitational.
Santa Clara is 3-3 and NMSU is 1-5.
Santa Clara hit .245 with 57 kills (22 e, 143 att.). They collected 54 assists, four aces, 16 service aces, 59 digs and seven team blocks. NMSU hit .176 with 43 kills (20 e, 131 att.). They collected 40 assists, five aces, nine service aces, 52 digs and 14 team blocks.
Sabrina Clayton had a career night, collecting 19 kills, hitting a sparkling .655 (0 e, 29 att.). Nikki Hess had 16 kills and Megan Anders scored 10. Taylor Milton had seven kills with 15 digs. Alyssa Anderson had 40 assists and 15 digs. GiGi Cresto had 10 digs.
"Sabrina was great tonight. She was really good - incredible," said Bronco head coach Jon Wallace. "She took a lot of good swings at the end and was really good for us."
Wallace liked the energy of Katherine Douglas. "She gave us a good spark we needed," Wallace said. "Nikki and Taylor are both really consistent for us. We did a good job of blocking and scored a lot there."
Lauren Loerch scored 10 kills for NMSU with Desiree Scott scoring nine and Aleisha Coates collecting eight. Ciara Brown led NMSU with 20 assists and Taylor Livoti had 14 assists with 10 digs. Stephanie Ziegler had 13 digs.
The Broncos opened the first set on an 8-3 run. NMSU pulled within two, 9-7 Broncos, on a kill by Clayton and another by Ness. The teams traded points and then alternated sideouts twice to put SCU up 15-11 on a kill by Milton. NMSU scored three of the next five, but were still down 17-14. NMSU scored five straight points before an error by Coates tied it up 19-19. After a sideout, Anders tied it up and a block solo by Anders made it 21-20 Broncos. After a kill by Coates tied it up 21-21, SCU cored four of the next five points to win set one, 25-22 on a final kill by Clayton. SCU hit .353 with 15 kills (3 e, 34 att.). NMSU hit .152 with 11 kills (6 e, 33 att.).
Set two started with NMSU running out to a 3-1 lead. The Broncos tied it up on back-to-back kills by Anders. NMSU collected three of the next four points to jump ahead 7-4 on a couple kills by Desiree Scott and two by Stephanie Ziegler. A service error by Taylor Livoti gave SCU the sideout, but a team block on Hess stopped the run, 9-5. A kill by Hess and ace by Clayton sparked the Broncos. NMSU scored two of the next three to pull ahead 11-8. NMSU scored five of the next seven and were leading 15-10.
NMSU kept pouring it on, scoring five of the next eight to go ahead 20-13 on an error by Hess. Lauren Loerch's ace gave NMSU its largest lead of the game at 21-13. The teams traded points on an NMSU service error and two straight team blocks by NMSU, 23-14 NMSU. The Broncos rallied for three of the next four and then a service error by Mary Shephard gave NMSU set two 25-17. NMSU hit .360 with 11 kills (2 e, 25 att.). SCU hit .029 with 11 kills (10 e, 35 att.).
Tied 2-2 in the third set, the Broncos scored five of the next six points on three NMSU errors and kill by Hess and Milton, 7-3 Broncos. NMSU scored twice before SCU got the ball back on a kill by Anders, 8-5 Broncos. SCU scored three of the next five on a kill and an ace by Hess. Murphy and Anders traded sideouts with kills, 12-7 Broncos. Clayton scored back-to-back kills between one by Scott, 14-9 Broncos. An NMSU team block was forgotten after a kill by Haley Cameron. Danielle Rottman served it out for an NMSU sideout.
Santa Clara laced together a rally on kills by Anders, Hess and Milton and team blocks by Anders and Hess and Anders and Anderson as the Broncos jumped ahead 20-11. Hess scored a kill after an NMSU sideout, 21-12 Broncos. Clayton checked back in and collected a block solo. Timeout New Mexico State. Clayton once again scored a kill after an NMSU sideout, 23-14 Broncos. Loerch's hitting error gave SCU set point. After an error by Cameron, Clayton scored her 12th of the match to give SCU a 25-16 set three win. SCU hit .364 with 16 kills (4 e, 33 att.). NMSU hit -.032 with 5 kills (6 e, 31 att.).
Wallace liked the team's energy in the third game. "Kat gave us a little spark and it helped," said Wallace. "We took some things for granted in game two. We thought we had them in game two and let their guard down. They played good volleyball and we had to up our energy."
NMSU started off on a 4-1 run but SCU scored three straight to tie it up 4-4. NMSU scored three straight to go up 7-4 on a kill by Bradley Nash and an error by Hess. SCU grabbed the ball on a service error by Loerch. But Nash and Coates laced together kills to go up 9-5. Two service errors and then kills by Stephanie Ziegler and Hess made it 11-7 NMSU. Clayton scored three straight kills on Anderson sets to pull within one. Coming out of the NMSU timeout, SCU collected a team block to tie it up 13-13. Milton and Loerch traded kills. The teams were tied at 14 before NMSU scored three straight. A kill by Clayton and one by Cameron pulled the Broncos within before a kill by Nash, 18-16 NMSU. Loerch served the ball into the net and Gwen Murphy and Loerch collected kills to move ahead 20-17.
Back-to-back kills by Anders and Hess pulled SCU closer. A kill by Hess and a Bronco team block by Anders and Clayton put the Broncos up 22-21. Timeout New Mexico State. Scott's kill tied it up 22-22. An ace by Coates put NMSU up one, 23-22. Timeout Broncos. Ziegler's block solo gave NMSU set point. Clayton's kill was followed by an attack error by Loerch to tie it up 24-24. An NMSU team block gave them set point again. Back-to-back kills by Cameron and Clayton gave SCU set point. Milton crushed the ball to give the Broncos set three 27-25. SCU hit .244 with 15 kills (5 e, 41 att.). NMSU hit .238 with 16 kills (6 e, 42 att.).
"It was a struggle to lose to No. 9 and No. 10 in the country the last two nights, but we came out with a lot of energy tonight and that helped us a lot against New Mexico State," added Wallace.
