Nov. 7, 2006
DAVIS, Calif. - It was a nice break from the recent norm for the No. 22 Santa Clara volleyball team Tuesday night as after three straight matches of playing from behind, the team got off to a fast start and never looked back with a 3-0 (30-24, 30-22, 30-15) road sweep of the UC Davis Aggies. With the win, the Broncos have now won two straight heading into their final three-match homestand to conclude the 2006 regular season.
SCU hosts two of those home matches this weekend, beginning Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. against the Portland Pilots. The Broncos close up the weekend with a 1 p.m. match on Saturday against the Gonzaga Bulldogs.
Kim McGiven led the winning effort Tuesday night with her ninth double-double of the season, posting 12 kills and 17 digs. Anna Cmaylo put down nine kills and hit .500 for the night while also making three blocks, and Brittany Lowe just missed a double-double of her own with nine kills and 11 digs. Caroline Walters made 11 digs while setter Crystal Matich dished out 41 assists in the victory.
"It was good for the girls to get this win tonight, they came in, took care of business, and won a match that they were supposed to win," said head coach Jon Wallace. "Kim, Anna and Brittany played well for us once again tonight and hopefully this will carry over into the weekend."
"Tonight was an opportunity for us to work some things out as a team and start developing our rhythm going into the rest of conference and the tournament," McGiven said afterwards. "We needed to take this match and the next three as opportunities to smooth out our offense and get things going as a team."
The Broncos wasted little time getting after it Tuesday, taking a 13-10 lead in the opening stanza behind kills from Cmaylo and Lindsy Evans. After a point to the Aggies, Evans then sparked a 4-0 run with a kill followed by consecutive aces to help the Broncos to a 17-11 lead. From that point, SCU kept the Aggies at an arm's length the rest of the way, finishing off the game with three straight points as a service error and kills from Megan Pura and McGiven closed things out.
Game two stayed close up until about the halfway point, when the Broncos exploded for a 7-0 run helped by three Aggie attack errors that broke open a 15-13 contest. With the nine-point lead at 22-13, Santa Clara cruised its way to victory in the second game as Evans closed things out with one of her six service aces on the night.
Santa Clara left no opportunity for UC Davis to entertain any thoughts of a comeback, taking the first five points of the third frame behind a pair of Cmaylo kills and one from Evans. The lead swelled to 10-2 behind another combined block from Cmaylo and Matich and another ace from Evans.
Although the Aggies cut things to 10-6 with a 4-0 run, and later kept things close at 17-12, SCU slammed the door with another five-point run behind kills from Evans and Cmaylo, and eventually got a 3-0 run to extend the advantage to 13 at 27-14. Leading 28-15 moments later, kills by Pura and Lowe closed out the sweep for the Broncos.
"These matches this week are going to be a good chance to set ourselves on the right path to playing San Diego and heading into the tournament," Cmaylo said after the win. "If we can take advantage of winning these matches, we can help our tournament standing and it will really help the team's confidence."
