Sept. 29, 2007
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara women's volleyball team improved to 2-0 in West Coast Conference play with a 3-0 sweep of Gonzaga at the Leavey Center. The Broncos, who are now 10-7 overall, took control of the match early and never looked back, winning 30-22, 30-23 and 30-25. Junior Brittany Lowe had a great afternoon for the Broncos, posting a double-double with 19 kills and 11 digs, while hitting .469. Seniors Crystal Matich and Caroline Walters also had solid matches with 42 assists and 21 digs, respectively.
Lowe got off to a great start in the first game to lead SCU to a 30-22 win. The junior outside hitter had eight kills and hit .583 for the game. With the Broncos leading 5-4, Lowe finished off a kill from Matich. The Broncos then won three straight points on Lowe's serve to get out to a 9-4 edge. After a mini-run by the Bulldogs to get back within 15-13 midway through the game, SCU got the lead back to five at 20-15 and were not threatened again. Leading 29-22, Lowe finished off the game with her eighth kill.
With the momentum clearly on their side, the Broncos got out of the blocks quickly in the second game, bursting to a 10-point edge at 16-6. Unlike game one, a balanced attack keyed the team's success in the second game, as six players picked up kills and no one had more than four. After racking up 15 assists in the first game, Matich put up 12 more in game two for a two-game total of 27. Through two games, Lowe had 10 kills and was hitting .600, while sophomore Lindsy Evans was also hitting over .400 at .417 with seven kills. SCU won the game 30-23.
Gonzaga refused to go down without a fight and came out strong to start the third game, taking a 6-3 lead. However, Jon Wallace's squad recovered from the slow start to take command of the game and finish out the match. Lowe got the comeback started with three kills to cut the lead to 7-6. The Broncos would eventually tie the match at eight apiece, before going on an 11-5 run to take a 20-15 lead. Fittingly, Lowe would finish the Zags off with two kills for a 30-25 win in game three for a 3-0 sweep.
Santa Clara takes its 2-0 conference record on the road next weekend. The Broncos play the San Diego Toreros on Thursday, Oct. 4 at 8 p.m. PT. The match will be broadcast live on ESPNU from San Diego. SCU then returns to the Bay Area to play San Francisco on Saturday, Oct. 6 at 1 p.m. PT in San Francisco.
