Oct. 4, 2007
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The Santa Clara volleyball team served up a 3-1 (30-24, 26-30, 30-17, 30-24) upset over No. 14 San Diego Thursday night at the Jenny Craig Pavilion. The victory put an end to San Diego's four-match win streak and was the first time since early 2005 that the Broncos defeated the Toreros. With the win, the SCU improved to 11-7 on the season and 3-0 in West Coast Conference play, while USD is now 11-5 overall and 1-1 in league action.
"The momentum of our game was decided in our talks in the team room," said head coach Jon Wallace. We talked about how we wanted to compete and, even though we got a little knocked off in game two, we came right back in game three. We had to play Bronco volleyball and be not fazed by what San Diego was doing and that's how we won tonight."
The triumph was the Broncos' first at the Jenny Craig Pavilion since 2003 and marked the second home loss of the season for the Toreros.
Junior Brittany Lowe and sophomore Lindsy Evans led the match with 16 kills each, while Lowe posted four total blocks. Freshman Krista Kelley added 13 kills, while senior libero Caroline Walters registered 12 digs. Leading the match in blocks was Nichole Clark. The junior outside hitter posted a career best seven total blocks.
San Diego took a 3-0 lead in the beginning of the first game, but Santa Clara responded quickly to tie the score 3-3 and the gained a two-point edge on back-to-back points from Lauryn Dowd. Although a kill from Laurel Abrahamson tied the score again for USD, SCU kept the score tight and tied it for the last time, 13-13, on block assist from Clark and Evans. The Broncos continued to push a head to take a five-point lead, 22-17, on a kill from Kelley and forcing the Toreros to take a time out. Santa Clara held control of the scoreboard as it jumped to an eight-point lead, 28-20, on a block from Crystal Matich and Clark. Yet, San Diego rallied back, prolonging the end of game one, but Matich struck again to bring the game to a close, 30-24.
The Toreros once again established a strong 5-0 lead in game two before Dowd put the Broncos on the board with a kill and then followed by a block assist with Evans. Yet, San Diego continued to hold the edge until Santa Clara knotted the score, 16-16. From that point on, the two teams battle point-for-point until back-to-back errors gave USD the final edged it needed to win the second game, 30-26.
Tied 1-1 in games, the Broncos came out with force in the third game on points from Kelley and Dowd. Even though the Toreros put a small stop in the Broncos run, SCU jumped right back on track on a kill from Evans and two block assists from Lowe and Clark to make the score, 7-1. Santa Clara continued to dominate the game on points from Evans, Lowe, Kelley and Dowd. The Broncos quickly finished game three, 30-17.
Game four saw the teams go head-to-head through the beginning. The score was tied eight times before San Diego posted a five-point run to take the first lead of the game. However, Santa Clara was not going to give up that quickly and rallied to a 6-1 run to knot the score 21-21 on a kill from Kelley. The Broncos then took a three point lead, 25-22, on a block assist from Evans and Dowd. A solid block from Evans brought the contest to match point and another Evans block gave Santa Clara the 30-24 win.
For San Diego, Amy DeGroot tied the match-high 16 kills.
Santa Clara returns to the Bay Area to face San Francisco on Saturday, Oct. 6. First serve is scheduled for 1 p.m., at the War Memorial Gym.
