The Santa Clara volleyball team will hit the road again this weekend for two important West Coast Conference matches in the Bay Area. The Broncos will play at Saint Mary's on Thurs., Oct. 23 at 7 pm. They will then travel up to Stockton to play at Pacific on Sat., Oct. 25 at 12 pm.
Santa Clara is 15-6 this season, including 5-3 in the WCC. They are 6-5 on the road, including two top 25 wins at then-No. 24 San Diego (3-1, Oct. 2) and then-No. 24 LMU (3-2, Oct. 18).
The Broncos are currently No. 3 in the nation with 1.81 sapg. They are No. 12 with 136 service aces and No. 25 in hitting percentage at .264.
"Our girls seem very fit, very strong at this point in the season," said Bronco head coach Jon Wallace. "We're happy with their physical conditioning. We're happy with their mental and emotional kind of buy into everything we're doing right now. The program's in a great spot and the girls are enjoying just playing volleyball and enjoying being our there on the court."
The Broncos beat Pepperdine 3-1 and No. 24 LMU 3-2 last weekend. Wallace was proud of the team's effort, especially the way they competed in the fifth set at LMU. "One of our six core values that we have in our program is to play with grit and it's really coming through," said Wallace. "There's a heavy load on all of our student-athletes with midterms. It's been tough and our girls are really coming together and learning how to compete so it's awesome."
Wallace pointed out the Broncos hadn't swept the LA schools in four years. "To go down there and do that is a testament to how hard our girls are working and how bad they want this. They want to win the WCC and make the NCAA Tournament."
The Broncos are led by Sabrina Clayton and Nikki Hess, who collect 3.40 kpg and 3.35 kpg, respectively. Clayton leads the WCC in sapg with .42, also good for No. 30 nationally. Kaity Edwards leads the WCC in hitting percentage at .356. "Sabrina and Nikki have been battling on the left for us and have been great for us. Collectively everybody's all in and everybody's giving it their best and working hard," said Wallace.
Taylor Milton, playing her best volleyball right now, collects 2.82 kpg and 2.19 dpg. "We had really consistent play from Taylor last weekend," said Wallace. "Her attacking and her defense has been great."
Kirsten Mead is No. 6 nationally with 11.62 apg. Danielle Rottman leads the team with 4.60 dpg. "Dani has been just a stellar libero for us digging four or five kills, four or five digs a set and really setting the tone defensively for us and that's been great," said Wallace.
Saint Mary's is 6-12 this season, including 2-6 in the WCC. The Gaels are 2-6 at home this season. Opening the WCC slate at 0-6, they won two five set matches at Portland and Gonzaga last weekend. Samantha Tinsley leads the team with 3.38 kpg and Natalie Loos is second with 3.03 kpg. It is the first time SCU has faced Saint Mary's this season.
Pacific is 16-5 this season, including 5-3 in the WCC. They are also 5-3 at home. The Tigers won both of their matches on the road last weekend: 3-2 at Gonzaga and 3-0 at Portland. The Broncos defeated the Tigers 3-0 in Santa Clara on Sept. 30. Lexi Elman leads the team with 3.76 kpg and Kat Schulz collects 3.19 kpg.
"It's been tough to go to Saint Mary's and our girls know it and we've actually talked about it and they're super excited to go play up there this Thursday," said Wallace. "We probably had our best Monday practice yesterday and they're excited for this week and they're jazzed from the last weekend's carry over. So again it's a long season and we just, we can't really just put everything in the Saint Mary's game. We're going to go and play Bronco volleyball and we're going to get into our rhythm and our groove and if we can play with some toughness and grit then we'll have an opportunity to win the match.
Wallace said the team starts the week by watching the weekend's film from each match and that has helped them get better each day in practice. "We are trying to develop our younger players' games. Both Nikki and Sabrina have completely bought in to getting better and learning. When we see it going into the game, it really gives them confidence and ultimately makes them play at a higher level. It's nice to see young athletes striving to improve and then actually getting better on the weekend - it's awesome to see."
