SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Following a tough stretch that featured road games against the West Coast Conference's top two teams, Santa Clara volleyball returns to the Bay Area for a Tuesday night matchup at Pacific. First serve for the regular season finale is set for 7 p.m. in the Spanos Center.
Last week, the Broncos lost back-to-back matches for only the second time this season. Santa Clara battled programs with stellar home records in 2015; BYU is 11-0 at Smith Fieldhouse and San Diego is 11-1 at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
Tuesday's match is the final contest for the Broncos prior to the NCAA Tournament selection show, which will be held Sunday at 6 p.m. and aired on ESPNU.
SANTA CLARA (21-8, 12-5 WCC) at Pacific (17-11, 8-9)
Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2015 • 7 p.m. PST
Game #20 • Away Game #13 • Stockton, Calif.
Live Stats: pacific.statbroadcast.com
Video: TheW.tv
Series: Pacific Leads 23-8
Previous Meeting: Oct. 22, 2015 in Santa Clara — Santa Clara won 3-2
Last Season: Sept. 30, 2014 in Santa Clara — Santa Clara won 3-0
Oct. 25, 2014 in Stockton — Pacific Won 3-0
THE BRONCOS
Santa Clara and BYU played Thursday night with a share of first place in the WCC on the line, and the Cougars prevailed 3-1.
On Saturday, the Broncos forced a fifth set after trailing 2-0 against San Diego, and the Toreros won the decisive set. Jensen Cunningham set single-match program records with 16 block assists and 17 total blocks against USD.
Santa Clara has hit the 20-win mark for the third time in the last four seasons and ninth time in Jon Wallace's 17 seasons as head coach. The Broncos reached the NCAA Tournament in each of Wallace's other eight seasons when they won at least 20 games.
Santa Clara has players ranked in the top four of five different major statistical categories in the WCC (per set), the most of all conference teams:
Aces — Sabrina Clayton 0.48/s (1st) | Kirsten Mead 0.38/s (3rd) | Danielle Rottman 0.30/s (5th)
Kills — Nikki Hess 4.04/s (4th)
Assists — Mead 11.13/s (2nd)
Digs — Rottman 4.89/s (1st)
Blocks — Lacey Maas 1.30/s (2nd) | Jensen Cunningham 1.23/s (3rd)
The next closest teams are BYU and Pacific; the Cougars and Tigers have players ranked in the top four of three major statistical categories. Clayton ranks 16th in the nations in aces/set and Mead ranks 26th in the nation in assists/set.
THE TIGERS
Pacific enters the contest on a three-match winning streak. In their last three games, the Tigers have a road win at Saint Mary's and home wins against Portland and Gonzaga. They rank second in the conference with a 1.40 aces/set average. The Broncos rank first in that category with a 1.59 aces/set average.
Pacific Category Leaders in the WCC's Top 10
Hitting Percentage — Holland Crenshaw .285 (9th)
Kills — Lexi Elman 4.54/s (3rd)
Assists — Kimmy Whitson 10.72/s (3rd)
Aces — Elman 0.41/s (2nd)
Digs — Katren Gotterba 3.85/s (8th)
Go Broncos!
