After winning its first preseason tournament last weekend and touring New York City on Sunday,Santa Clara volleyball moved its camp north to the West Point Academy, where it will play at Army on Tues., Sept. 2 at 4 pm Pacific.
On Monday, the Broncos practiced at Army and then were given a behind-the-scenes tour by Captain Austin Welch. "Our tour of West Point by Captain Welch gave our team an incredible perspective of the hard work and commitment it takes to be an officer in our U.S. Army," said Bronco head coach Jon Wallace. "The West Point campus is beautiful with its setting on the Hudson River. Santa Clara is very special with our palm trees and mission setting, but it was amazing for our team to have this experience at West Point."
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Santa Clara won the Hofstra Asics Invitational last weekend in Long Island, N.Y. They defeated St. Francis and Lafayette both 3-0 and then Hofstra 3-1. On the weekend, the team hit .442 to its opponents own .171.
Senior Taylor Milton was named the Hofstra Invitational Most Valuable Player. Milton hit .426 on the weekend, averaging 3.25 kpg, .38 sapg and 2.0 dpg.
Freshman Kirsten Mead was named to the all-tournament team. Mead leads the Broncos with 12.8 apg. She also collected 2.12 dpg and .50 apg.
After the first weekend, Sabrina Clayton leads the team in hitting percentage at .448 and with 4.62 kills per game. She is third on the team with 2.50 digs. She leads the team with 37 kills as well. Nikki Hess is second in hitting at .444 and is second with 4.0 kpg.
"After our tour of the historic West Point campus, the girls are excited to show their stuff in front of the cadets," said Wallace. "We had a great practice Monday, working on some of the things we learned from the weekend, and an even better serve and pass for the Army match. Our ream is in a great spot right now - they just want to get better."
Army was 2-2 at the Hampton Inn-vitational at Bryant College in Rhode Island last weekend. They defeated host-Bryant 3-1 and UMass Lowell 3-0. They lost to St. John's 3-1 and Towson 3-0.
They are led by Carolyn Bockrath, who scored 2.93 kills per game. Setter Vanessa Edwards averages 8.57 apg and 2.14 dpg – both team leaders.
Army won 14 matches last year, including 11 league matches. They were picked third in the Patriot League this season after winning their last league title in 2009. The incoming recruiting class was ranked 30th nationally this year according to PrepVolleyball.com. In addition, sophomore Olivia Fairfield was selected to the preseason All-Patriot League team after being named the PL Rookie of the Year in 2013. The Black Knights return eight players from a year ago and hope to make a conference-record 16th-straight Patriot League Tournament appearance.
