EUGENE, Ore. – Playing in the school's 15th NCAA tournament, Santa Clara lost 3-0 at No. 13 Oregon Thursday night. Set scores were 15-25, 17-25 and 16-25. Santa Clara finishes the year at 22-10. Oregon is 22-9 and advances to the second round to play LSU.
"Oregon is a much different team in this building. They passed really well and served well, too," said Bronco head coach Jon Wallace. "We are really young. Our seniors are great, but we are a really young team. I think our future is really bright and playing this match tonight will help us for years to come."
"We are really proud of our season this year. We were picked ninth in our league and we finished third. I am really excited to have my senior year with this group of girls. I am really proud of everything we did," said junior Danielle Rottman. "Playing on the road, in an arena like this, will help us be more prepared and ready for next year."
"Our side of the net, we had prepared really well. We had good practices and came on the court focused. We were up against a really good team tonight," said senior Taylor Milton. "Tonight was not our best night out. We have a really good offense that might not have shown against Oregon, but we know we do."
Santa Clara hit .057 with 34 kills (28 e, 105 att.). The Broncos collected 34 assists, no aces, two service errors, 38 digs and 2.0 team blocks.
Kaity Edwards led the Broncos, hitting .800 with eight kills (0 e, 10 att.). Sabrina Clayton had eight kills, Nikki Hess added seven and Milton scored six. Kirsten Mead had 31 assists. Milton added 11 digs and Hess had 10.
Oregon hit .367 with 41 kills (8 e, 90 att.). The Ducks collected 37 assists, three aces, four service errors, 38 digs and 15.0 team blocks.
Martenne Bettendorf had 12 kills with 10 block assists, hitting .478. Frankie Shebby had seven kills, hitting .312. Maggie Scott had 20 assists and Shellsy Ashen added 13. Amanda Benson had 13 digs. Serena Warner had two block solos and 11 blocks assists.
"Their team was really comfortable tonight. We knew their defense was good, but they looked even better because we were out of system a lot tonight," Wallace said.
Oregon opened the first set with a 3-0 run. Clayton and Calkins scored in the back-court between a UO kill. Santa Clara called for time after Oregon scored four more, taking a 7-2 lead. Milton and Edwards scored off the block between a Duck sideout, 9-4 UO. Milton crushed it off the double block for another sideout and Oregon was called for a double hit, 11-7 UO. Oregon scored a couple and then SCU scored three of the next four on two Milton kills and a miss-hit by the Ducks, 14-10 UO. Oregon scored five of the next eight to go ahead 19-12.
Clayton crushed it down in the back row coming out of the Bronco timeout. Oregon scored six of the next eight to win set one 25-15. SCU hit .030 with 11 kills (10 e, 33 att.). Oregon hit .414 with 14 kills (2 e, 29 att.).
Back-to-back kills by Hess and Edwards tied it up 3-3 in the second set. Milton's fourth kill tied it up 4-4. Oregon scored three straight when Edwards knocked it off the block for a sideout, 7-5 UO. The team's traded points with Mead dumping the ball and then Hess tipping it for a kill, 8-7 UO. Clayton scored her fourth kill down the line for a sideout, 9-8 UO. Edwards tipped it around the block for a sideout and then added another one, her sixth of the match, to bring SCU within three, 15-12. Oregon scored three of the next four, but a kill by Natasha Calkins in the middle halted the run, 18-14. The Ducks collected two more and SCU called for time. After Oregon added two more, SCU called for time again, trailing 22-14.
The Broncos scored a couple when Hess hit it out for a UO sideout. Hess came right back and crushed it cross court on the slide. Oregon scored back-to-back kills with Shebby scoring set point on the overpass to give the Ducks the second set, 25-17. SCU hit .079 with 12 kills (9 e, 38 att.). Oregon hit .400 with 13 kills (1 e, 30 att.). Edwards had four kills in the second set.
The Broncos opened the third set with two early points, including a kill by Lacey Maas. A kill by Milton off the block tied it up 3-3. After Oregon scored twice, Hess collected a sideout down the line. Chelsey Keoho's ace was matched by back-to-back kills by Edwards, 8-6 UO. Another kill by Edwards, her seventh, brought SCU within one. Trading points, Maas tipped it for a sideout, 10-9. Oregon had scored three when Clayton smacked it off the double block and then the Ducks hit it out, 13-11 UO. SCU scored two of three on kills by Hess and Milton, 16-13 UO. UO added three of the next four to move ahead 19-14. Coming out of the Bronco timeout, Edwards scored quickly. Oregon scored three more when SCU called for time, trailing 22-15. Oregon added a couple before it was called for four hits. A kill by Shebby clinched the match for Oregon, 25-16. SCU hit .059 with 11 kills (9 3, 34 att.). Oregon hit .290 with 14 kills (5 e, 31 att.).
Notes: This is Santa Clara's 15th NCAA tournament, including its 12th under head coach Jon Wallace … Santa Clara is 4-9-1 vs. Oregon all-time.
