Aug. 31, 2007
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Sophomores Nina Sevastopoulos and Lindsy Evans, along with freshman Alex Scoffone led the offense for Santa Clara Friday afternoon as the Broncos blanked the Eagles of Georgia Southern, 3-0 (30-14, 30-14, 30-13) in their second match of the 2007 Campus USA Credit Union Invitational. All three players registered 11 kills for the match-high. The Broncos improved to 5-0 on the season, while the Eagles fell to 2-3 overall.
"We passed very well tonight and our serving was extremely focused," said head coach Jon Wallace. "A lot of the credit has to go to Crystal [Matich] and our overall setting and passing. The environment here is great for volleyball. We expect a large crowd tomorrow when we play the home team, Florida."
Sevastopoulos and Scoffone only faulted once each to produce .667 and .476 hitting percentages, respectively. Scoffone also posted a match-high four total blocks, while Taylor O'Brien chipped in with three total blocks. Senior setter Crystal Matich once again dished out match-highs in assists with 47 and service aces with five. Senior libero Caroline Walters notched 18 digs, also a match best. After today's two matches, Walters is 337 digs away from setting a new career record.
The Broncos opened their second match of the two-day tournament with a 4-1 lead on kills from Brittany Lowe, Evans and Lauryn Dowd. Santa Clara produced a 9-2 run to widen the gap to nine points on impressive attacks from Dowd and Courtney. The Broncos held the advantage in game one and never looked back as they continued to cruise past the Eagles. A kill from Alex Scoffone and an ace from Dowd gave SCU a 10-point lead, 16-6. Continuing to push ahead, Lowe added two kills, while Matich dished out an ace to make the score, 19-9. Gorana Bacic and Christy Dowd helped the Eagles put five more points on the board, but that was not enough as the Broncos dominated the first game, 30-14.
Santa Clara took to the court ready to do business in game two and rallied behind serving from Matich to open with a 6-0 lead, forcing Georgia Southern to a take an early timeout. Upon returning from the break, the Broncos continued their run with back-to-back kills from Nichole Clark to make the score, 12-4. Clark continued to demonstrate her attacking talent as she tallied two more kills to give SCU an 11-point advantage, 16-5. Freshman Scoffone stepped up to place the Broncos at 20 points with a kill off a Matich set, and then again to close the second game, 30-14.
Game three saw a similar fate for both the Broncos and Eagles. Although a tired SCU squad battled point-for-point in the beginning of the game, the Broncos found their energy boost in Nina Sevastopoulos to gain the two-point advantage, 7-5. Sevastopoulos quickly stuck again pushing the score to 10-7. Georgia Southern tried to rally back on points from Sarah Gildersleeve and Bacic, but the Broncos fought off the Eagles and jumped to a 10-point lead on a three straight Sevastopoulos kills, 21-11. Solid serving efforts from Matich helped the Broncos continue their control of the game, and yet another kill from Sevastopoulos ended the game, 30-13, and the match 3-0 for the Broncos.
For Georgia Southern, Bacic and Bianca Julio registered a team-best seven kills, while Mae Chabra recorded 19 assists and Marissa Odom had eight digs.
The Broncos close out the 2007 Campus USA Credit Union Invitational against the seventh-ranked Gators of Florida on Saturday, Sept. 1. First serve in this top-25 match is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. PT at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla.
