Taking a 2-0 lead wasn't enough for the Broncos as they dropped the next three games to host-Harvard on Friday night at the Harvard Invitational in Cambridge, Mass. The Broncos move to 5-1 with Harvard opening the season at 1-0. Set scores were 25-17, 25-18, 23-25, 18-25 and 13-15.
Santa Clara will play Delaware at 10 am Pacific on Sat., Sept. 6 to close out its play on the East Coast.
Santa Clara hit a season-low .194 with 54 kills (27 e, 139 att.). The Broncos had 49 assists, 10 aces, 11 service errors, 59 digs and nine team blocks.
Kaity Edwards hit .588 with 12 kills (2 e, 17 att) and two block assists. Sabrina Clayton led the Broncos with 13 kills, hitting .200 (6 e, 35 att.). Taylor Milton hit just .138 with 10 kills (6 e, 29 att), adding five service aces, eight digs and four block assists. Nikki Hess hit -.056 with nine kills (11 e, 36 att.). Lacey Maas hit .455 with six kills (1 e, 11 att.), two block solos and four block assists. Danielle Rottman had 22 digs and two aces. Kirsten Mead had 44 assists, two aces and four digs. Mary Shepherd had four digs and Katy Schatzman added three.
Harvard hit .220 with 53 kills (22 e, 141 att.). The Crimson had 48 assists, six aces, 15 service errors, 47 digs and 12 team blocks.
Grace Weghorst had 15 kills, hitting .250 (5 e, 40 att.). Jennifer Shults, Caroline Walters and Corinne Bain each had eight kills each. Bain led the Crimson with 27 assists and eight digs. Hanna Schmidt had 13 assists and seven digs.
Back-to-back kills helped the Broncos open the first set on a 5-2 run. The Crimson committed two errors and then Milton crushed three aces to put the Broncos up 11-4. The Broncos marched ahead to take a 15-6 lead. A kill by Hess and one by Edwards were sandwiched between each making service errors, 21-10 Broncos. Timeout Harvard.
Out of the timeout, the Crimson scored six of the next eight points, including back-to-back kills by Weghorst, 23-16 Broncos. Wallace had seen enough and called for time. Edwards came out of the timeout swinging and crushed the ball cross court in the back row. After a Weghorst kill, Edwards clinched the first set 25-16 with a kill. Edwards, Maas and Clayton had three kills each and Milton scored three aces.
SCU opened the second set on a 4-0 run, including a kill by Clayton, a block solo by Maas and another ace by Mead. Clayton scored on the back row attack and Rottman crushed the Broncos' seventh ace in front of Weghorst, 9-2 Broncos. A team block by Edwards and Hess caused Harvard for time, down 10-2.
Shults got the sideout for Harvard coming out of the timeout, but then Schmidt served it into the net, 11-3 Broncos. Harvard scored five of the next eight points to pull within six, 14-8, before a service error by Bain. The teams traded points twice, including a Milton kill for a sideout, 17-10 SCU. The Broncos made it a nine-point lead on another ace by Milton, her fourth and the team's eighth, a team block by Edwards and Mead and a kill by Hess, 21-12 SCU. Timeout Harvard.
The Crimson scored five straight points to cut the lead to 21-17 Broncos. After a timeout, Edwards responded with a kill and after Weghorst scored, Mead dumped the ball, 23-18 SCU. Bain crushed it out of bounds two times in a row to give SCU a 25-18 set two victory.
The teams came out ready to play in the third set, tying it up twice but a kill by Hess and an error by Shults put SCU up 5-2. Going up 8-4 on an ace by Milton, Harvard scored the next three points. The teams traded service errors and then Weghorst crushed it to tie it up 9-9. Clayton scored in the back of a wide-open court. Harvard took its first lead of the night to go up 13-10. Timeout Santa Clara.
Mead dumped it in the donut for a kill for a sideout, but Harvard kept swinging and scored a kill, an ace and a team block, 16-11 Harvard. A Crimson service error and then a team block by Natasha Calkins and Milton helped the Broncos. The Crimson jumped for a team block, a kill and a team block to take a six-point lead, 19-13 Harvard. Timeout Broncos.
The teams traded points twice before Edwards scored in the back row, 21-17 Harvard. Walters and Clayton traded kills for sideouts, 22-18. Bain's service error cut their lead to two, 23-21 Crimson. Timeout Harvard.
Shults scored a kill out of the timeout, but Milton matched her, 24-22 Harvard. A kill by Hess brought the Broncos within one, but Clayton served it into the net and Harvard won set three 25-23.
SCU started the third set with kills by three straight kills and after a couple of Bronco errors, Clayton scored again, 4-2 SCU. The Crimson scored two of the next three on kills and Edwards answered with a kill, 6-4 Broncos. Moving forward, the teams played back and forth, tying it up nine times, with no team going ahead by more than a point. After a kill by Weghorst and an ace by Walters, SCU called for time, down two, 17-15.
Coming out of the timeout the Broncos tied it up, but the Crimson tacked on a few more to put the Broncos on their heels, 21-16 Harvard. Timeout Broncos.
The team's traded points with the Broncos getting a timeout on a Shults attack error, 22-17 Harvard. Harvard scored three of the next four points to close out set four, 25-18 Crimson.
The Broncos jumped out to a 3-1 lead, but the Crimson tied it up 3-3 to start the fifth set. A kill by Milton and an ace by Rottman, 5-3 Broncos. But the Crimson wouldn't go away and scored three straight, 6-5 Harvard. Edwards score a sideout to tie it up, but Harvard scored three straight to take a 9-6 lead. Timeout Santa Clara.
Once again Edwards came out of the timeout with a kill. After a long rally, Clayton smacked it outside, but Edwards answered again with her 12th kill, 10-8 Harvard. Again, the Crimson scored on a kill and a team block, 12-8 Harvard. Timeout Santa Clara.
Harvard made a couple errors before scoring. Clayton hit cross court for a kill and Weghorst hit into the net; and the Broncos trailed by just one, 13-12 Harvard. Timeout Crimson. Weghorst scored a kill and then hit her serve into the net, 14-13 Crimson. Holte finished off the fifth game with a back-row kill, 15-13 Crimson.
