After defeating Pacific 3-0 on Tuesday evening, Santa Clara's volleyball team (11-4, 1-1 WCC) will travel south and then east this weekend for two more West Coast Conference matches. The Broncos will play at No. 23 San Diego (9-6, 2-1 WCC) on Oct. 2 at 7 pm and then play at No. 10 BYU (12-2, 3-0 WCC) on Oct. 4 at 7 pm as well.
In other WCC action Tuesday night, San Diego lost 3-0 to No. 21 LMU and BYU won 3-0 at Pepperdine.
Bronco head coach Jon Wallace (JW) sat down with Santa Clara to talk about the 3-0 win vs. Pacific, the trip to San Diego and BYU and what he is looking for out of his team this weekend.
SCU: The team played like a team on a mission Tuesday night vs. Pacific. What did you see that you liked?
JW: I was pleased with our competitive toughness. I didn't think we played the cleanest volleyball Tuesday night, but our girls battled and put great effort forward to win every ball, to win every contact, and I think they did a nice job of that.
SCU: It was really a total team effort.
JW: We had some really nice play from a lot of our girls. Taylor Milton, Nikki Hess and Sabrina Clayton carried the load offensively. Kirsten Mead not only set a great match, but contributed with her serve, her defense and her blocking. She is really maturing as a player, a very young player. And Danielle Rottman was stellar at defense. We put her in positions to be the primary digger and she did a fantastic job. When she digs, it really propels our team in terms of energy and just fight.
SCU: Is it tough playing these Tuesday night matches? It was the first of two WCC Tuesday night matches you will host (vs. Saint Mary's Nov. 25).
JW: This is a tough week for us as well as other teams in our conference. We pretty much have a day in between matches for the entire week, which means we don't get to practice much. We prepare for the next match on that in between day. We've been talking about this week for a couple weeks and preparing our girls for it not only mentally, but physically. So far, so good. The quick turn-arounds have been good for our team. They are dialed in to the preparation. They are watching film on their own. They are really investing a lot of time into their preparation outside of the gym, which makes it more comfortable for them, and we are seeing the benefits from that.
SCU: Looking forward, a positive is that San Diego and BYU play really different from each other. A negative is that you are going to play two of the better teams in the conference on the road. How do you prepare to play San Diego and not look ahead to BYU?
JW: Once again, we have been doing this all season long. The girls prepare for the match in front of them, and they've really dialed into their routines and prepared themselves every night. We need to play our brand of volleyball no matter who we are playing. That's going to give us the best chance to win the match. And then my staff does a great job of giving our girls the necessary information and positioning us so that we really can defend against any team we play against. I give my staff a lot of credit for preparing game plans that are easily interchangeable. And the terminology and verbiage that we use from match to match is the same, which keeps it very consistent for our girls.
SCU: The WCC has four teams ranked in the top 30. Both of the teams you play this weekend have been ranked in the Top 20-25 all year long. Is it good to go play ranked teams on the road right off the bat because it gets your team's attention? Is that something you will talk about?
JW: Both teams being the Top 20-25 is a great test for us. We know that to accomplish our goal of winning the WCC, we are going to have to beat them, and this is an opportunity to do that whether we are on the road or at home. I feel like our young squad - right now we are starting three freshmen, two sophomores, a junior and a senior - that this young group will get better as the season goes along. I'm glad we are playing them early. I'm glad we are playing them early on the road. I hope we can get there and put our best effort forward and get a win somehow. But in the long run we will get better as we go along and playing these tough teams will just make us better sooner.
SCU: The team had 12 team blocks vs. Pacific on Tuesday. Blocking is something that your team has had to work on a lot this year to improve. Do you feel like you're heading in the right direction?
JW: I do. Our team schemes have been better, more defined. Once you get into conference, we have a lot more film on all of the teams we play against, so our scheme blocking has been better. More importantly, our four pin players - Sabrina Clayton, Nicole Hess, Kirsten Mead and Taylor Milton - have worked hard on setting their block up and working on their skills a lot in practice. Last night we had a lot of one-on-one blocks, which tells you that they are working hard on their game and it showed.
SCU: To start the week, your team was ranked in the Top 25 in five offensive categories in the country and still leads the country in aces. Those numbers really don't mean anything this time of the year, although it's nice - they'll mean something at the end of the year. Obviously you have tough servers, you have a good setter, but are there a couple of things that you would say "I can point to this as to why"?
JW: The stat categories that we're doing well in, we put an emphasis on in the preseason. We wanted to be good at these certain things. We feel it not only fits our skill set in our gym, but a brand of volleyball that's going to help us beat other teams. Serving tough and getting other teams in trouble is our No. 1 goal when we serve. And playing from that, it does help our defense. It helps our young team defend other teams because when other teams pass well it's very challenging. When we can get them in trouble with tough service, it helps our young girls understand where they need to go and allows them to play a game a little easier.
In terms of an offense, we've worked on that a lot so our hitting percentage means a lot. We play as fast as we can, in as much control as we can, but with that we have to pass the ball. In the matches that we pass well, we've able to get on a good rhythm. When we don't pass well, we struggle a little bit. Our three main players, Taylor Milton, Nicole Hess and Sabrina Clayton, have done a good job of developing their games.
SCU: Final thoughts on the weekend before you head out?
JW: We are excited for this weekend, and our girls have looked towards the top schools in our league to get after. The last two years we have split with both teams, so we know we can beat them. Last year we had BYU on the ropes at their place. BYU knows we let them off the hook, but we were able to get them at home. So our girls know that these two teams have a ton of talent and that they're real good, but we are ready for the challenge. We enjoy these matches.
Note: Santa Clara returns home on Thurs., Oct. 9 when they host Portland at 6 pm and then Gonzaga the following night, Fri., Oct. 10, at 6 pm.
