EYEBRONCO: Volleyball Preview On the Weekend
On the road for their first seven matches, the Broncos (6-1) will return home Fri., Sept. 12 for a 7 pm match vs. Penn (2-2) and then host No. 20 Duke (5-1) on Sat., Sept. 13 at 11 am.
The Broncos will then travel up I-280 on Saturday night to face the new No. 1 in college volleyball, Stanford (4-0), at 7 pm in Palo Alto. Santa Clara's last time facing the No. 1 team was also at Stanford, when the Broncos fell 3-0 in in the opening round of the NCAA tournament in 2007 (Nov. 30, 2007). They also fell 3-0 to No. 1 Nebraska in the Final Four in 2005 as the only two matches vs. No. 1s. Nebraska went on to win the NCAA title that year as well.
Duke will play Stanford on Friday at 7 pm as the entire weekend of games, at SCU and SU, are part of the Stanford Invitational.
Santa Clara is 2-0 vs. Penn, with the Broncos last winning 3-0 in Philadelphia on Sept. 25, 2009. The Broncos are 1-0 vs. Duke as the No. 17 Broncos defeated the Blue Devils 3-1 on Sept. 19, 2003 in Columbia, S.C. The Broncos last win against a top-25 team came on Nov. 9, 2013 when they defeated then-No. 21 BYU 3-1 at home. It was their second straight win over a ranked BYU team at home.
Santa Clara is 1-27 vs. the Cardinal, with its lone winning coming in 2005, as part of Santa Clara's Final Four run. They defeated No. 5 Stanford 3-1 in the round of 32. The two Bay Area teams last played each on Sept. 7, 2012 with No. 8 Stanford winning 3-0.
The Broncos lone blemish this season is a 3-2 loss at Harvard on Sept. 5 as part of a seven-match swing on the East Coast where they won the Hofstra Invitational with a 3-0 record, defeated Army 3-0 mid-week and then posted a 2-1 record at the Harvard Invitational.
Taylor Milton was named the MVP of the Hofstra Invitational and Kirsten Mead was named to the all-tournament team. Milton and Sabrina Clayton were both named to the Harvard Invitational All-Tournament Team.
Clayton leads the team, hitting .345 with 3.59 kpg and 1.77 dpg. Milton is second in kills with 3.18 and in service aces with .45. She chips in 1.55 dpg as well. Nikki Hess is third with 3.05 kpg and 1.55 dpg as well. Rookie setter Kirsten Mead scores 12.0 apg and 1.27 dpg. Danielle Rottman sets the pace for the defense and offense, respectively, with 3.59 dpg and a team-leading .73 sapg.
Penn enters the weekend at 2-2, after falling 3-0 at Delaware on Sept. 9. Looking back, the Broncos defeated the Blue Hens 3-0 in their final match of the Harvard Invitational. Penn went 2-1 at its home tournament last weekend, defeating Colgate and Cleveland State 3-0 before falling 3-0 to Georgetown. Penn was 14-11 last season, posting a 5-5 record on the road.
Duke enters the Stanford match with a 5-1 record. Last weekend the Blue Devils lost 3-2 at Michigan before defeating then-No. 14 Michigan State 3-2 in East Lansing. They opened the season with a 3-0 record at their home tournament.
Duke was 28-5 last season, including 8-4 on the road. The No. 16 seed, Duke fell in three to American in the second round of last year's NCAA tournament.
Entering the weekend, the Blue Devils are hitting .243 with 13.75 kpg. They score 12.79 apg, 1.21 sapg and 16.21 dpg. They are led by Jeme Obeime, who is hitting .291 with 3.75 kpg and 1.88 dpg. Jordan Tucker is the leading hitting with a .336 hitting percentage and 2.42 kpg. Kelsey Williams scores 9.94 apg with 1.89 dpg. Maggie Deichmeister adds 8.33 apg and 0.89 dpg.
The Cardinal will host Duke on Friday at 7 pm and then Penn at 11 am on Saturday. They will finish with the Broncos at 7 pm on Saturday. Stanford enters the weekend flying high, defeating then-No. 1 Penn State 3-2 on Sept. 5 and then-No. 9 Illinois 3-2 on Sept. 6. Both matches were part of the Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge hosted by the Cardinal.
Stanford is hitting .275 with 13.9 kpg, 0.7 sapg, 2.4 bpg and 16.8 dpg. The opposition is hitting .185 per game.
Inky Ajanaku is hitting .474 with 3.38 kpg to lead the eam. Jordan Burgess collects 3.25 kpg and 3.69 dpg and Morgan Boukather collects 2.69 kpg and 3.06 dpg. Madi Bugg scores 11.38 apg and 2.62 dpg.
