Oct. 22, 2004
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Freshman Libero Caroline Walters posted 33 digs to tie for the third best individual performance in Santa Clara University record books as the Bronco volleyball team defeated Loyola Marymount in four games tonight in West Coast Conference action at the Leavey Center. The Broncos improve to 13-4, 4-2 with the victory. Game scores were 28-30, 30-20, 32-30, 30-18. The Lions fall to 13-6, 4-2.
Walters, a freshman from Los Gatos, matched Lia Young's Nov. 19, 1993 performance against San Diego with her defensive effort tonight. She led three Broncos who reached double digits in kills, as Jac Heler added 14 and Cassie Perret netted 13. Although Santa Clara was out-blocked by LMu by a 17-14.5 margin, three Broncos posted at least six blocks, led by Annalisa Muratore's eight stuffs.
Offensively, Toni Muratore registered a match-high 18 kills to lead four Broncos in double digits. Her sister Annalisa was next with 15.
Loyola Marymount was led by Dina DeBernardi's 15-ill effort, while Jania Motton came off the bench to post 12. Lion Libero Jacene Dimson added 18 digs and Kelli Nerison finished the night with 12 blocks.
LMU led most of game one, but five straight kills from the Muratore sisters allowed the Broncos to pull within two, at 19-21. A Toni Muratore kill tied the frame at 21, but the Lions recaptured the lead with back-to-back blocks by Jody Carlson and Nerison. A tip by Bronco Kim McGiven tied the game again, at 27, and she followed with a stronger attack to give the Broncos their first lead of the frame. Motton posted a kill and LMU took game one on an SCU error.
Game two followed with more play from evenly-matched teams. Perret aced a serve, and then Anna Cmaylo and McGiven paired for a block to take a 10-7 lead and for LMU to take a time out. The Broncos kept the momentum with another block coming out of the break and pushed the lead to 22-16 with a Walters' service ace. The team played inspired volleyball and held LMU to a .054 hitting percentage to earn the game two victory heading into intermission.
Game three saw 19 ties as the teams battled for the key frame. A Toni Muratore ace afforded game point No. 1 for the Broncos, bringing tonight's crowd of almost 1,100 to its feet. LMU was able to tie the match at 29 and take their own game point, as DeBernardi earned a kill on a Bronco overpass. Santa Clara rallied with a block from Annalisa Muratore and Perret, and a McGiven kill set up the team's second game-point opportunity, which they were able to capitalize on for the match advantage.
The Broncos dominated game four and closed the night with a Toni Muratore's final kill of the match.
Santa Clara will follow with a Sunday afternoon match against defending league champion Pepperdine. The Waves are currently 5-9 overall and 3-2 in WCC action. College Sports Television, the first 24-hour college sports television network, will televise the match. First serve for the live broadcast is set for 3:05 p.m. The CSTV Sunday Night Spikes telecasts, featuring teams from 12 different conferences, will showcase some of the top players in pursuit of a national title. Carter Blackburn will handle play-by-play, while Heather Cox will take on analyst duties. A feature story on the Muratore sisters will air during intermission.
College Sports TV, the fastest-growing independent cable network, is available to more than 20 million homes nationally on cable and satellite. The network is available on Comcast, Time Warner and Adelphia cable systems, among others, and is also available on DirecTV (channel 610). For information on CSTV availability in particular markets, consumers can log on to www.collegesports.com/getcstv or call their cable or satellite operator.
