WATCH | Volleyball Prepares for 2014 NCAA Tournament
The Santa Clara volleyball team received the school's 15th NCAA tournament bid on Sunday and will play at No. 13 Oregon at 7 pm on Thurs., Dec. 4. LSU and Oklahoma will play in the match prior to that and the winners will advance to a 4 pm match on Fri., Dec. 5 at Oregon.
Friday's winner will advance to the Minneapolis Regional the next weekend with the Final Four being hosted in Oklahoma City.
The Broncos have made the NCAA tournament 12 times under head coach Jon Wallace, including their last berth in 2012. "We are extremely proud of this group of girls. They have been working hard since January to capture this berth," Wallace said. "This young group is very motivated and this is really special for our program because we are certainly on the rise with this group."
Santa Clara is 4-8-1 vs. Oregon all-time. The Broncos lost 3-0 vs. No. 20 Oregon in Fresno on Aug. 27, 2010. The Broncos won the meeting prior to that, 3-1, in 1997 and the other 11 meetings came from 1979-1986. Wallace acknowledged they don't know a lot about Oregon yet. "We don't know a lot about Oregon yet – but we do know they play in the Pac 12 Conference and it's certainly one of the top leagues in the country."
Santa Clara is 22-9 this season, including 12-6 in the West Coast Conference. The Broncos finished tied for third place with San Diego. BYU won the automatic bid and with a 3-1 win at USF on Nov. 25, Pacific clinched second place.
Oregon, the No. 10 seed, is 21-9, including 11-9 in the Pac 12. Santa Clara defeated Saint Mary's 3-0 in its last match and Oregon lost 3-1 to Oregon State.
The Broncos' defeated four top 20 teams this year, including WCC champion, then-No. 11 BYU, 3-0 on Oct. 30 and the league runner-up, Pacific, 3-0 on Sept. 30. They also defeated then-No. 20 Duke 3-0, then-No. 24 LMU 3-2 and then-No. 23 San Diego 3-1. The Broncos finished 7-3 in their last 10 matches and Santa Clara and BYU were the only teams in the league to defeat every WCC opponent at least once.
"I am so excited. Sitting here waiting for the announcement was great – we all had great energy and were thrilled to hear 'Santa Clara'," said Danielle Rottman. "When they did, there was a lot of yelling and jumping up and arms thrown in the air. The anticipation was killing us and once we saw our name - there was instant excitement in the room."
What will the team do to prepare for the match vs. Oregon? "We want to stick to our same routine we have stuck to all year. We have had a lot of success with that. It will help us be ready on Thursday," said Rottman. "I am excited to have this opportunity to play Oregon. We really deserved this bid."
"I am out of my mind excited. All our hard work has paid off. And now everyone is out of the roof excited to continue working hard," said senior Taylor Milton. On wondering the last few days. "I tried not to think about it until this morning. I had this gigantic pit in my stomach all day – especially at practice this afternoon. I kept checking the clock, waiting for 5:30 to get here."
What will Milton share with the team? "I plan to tell them to take it all in, but at the same time don't let it make you play any differently. Play your best and enjoy it as best as you can."
Santa Clara's top NCAA tournament appearance was its run to the 2005 Final Four. In their last NCAA tournament appearance in 2012, the Broncos lost 3-0 to No. 8 Hawaii in Seattle. In the 2008 NCAA tournament, also in Seattle, the Broncos advanced to the second round by defeating No. 16 Kansas State in the first round. They fell to No. 5 Washington 3-0 in the second round.
Notes: Stanford, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin were named the Top 4 seeds of the NCAA tournament. The Broncos will join three other teams from the West Coast Conference in the NCAA tournament: BYU, San Diego and LMU.
