Oct. 27, 2007
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara volleyball blanked Portland 3-0 (30-24, 30-23, 30-24) on the road Saturday afternoon to earn their fifth straight West Coast Conference win of the season. The Broncos are now 8-1 in league play and 16-9 overall, while the Pilots dropped to 7-16 on the season and 0-9 in WCC action.
"We played really well today," said head coach Jon Wallace. "Our serving helped us win a lot of points. There wasn't much of a difference from the last time we played Portland except they made us work a little harder for points."
The Broncos were led by three players with double figure kills. Freshman Krista Kelley once again had a match-leading performance with 16 kills and 12 digs. Outside hitter Brittany Lowe added 13 kills, while sophomore Lindsy Evans chipped in with 11 kills and four service aces.
The Pilots put the first two points on the board but the Broncos quickly tied the score 2-2 on a kill from Lowe. Lowe responded again to put SCU up by one, 3-2. Santa Clara then proceeded to jump to a five point advantage on kills from Lauryn Dowd, Nichole Clark and Kelley. Even though the Broncos controlled the scoreboard, the Pilots fought to keep the score tight. However, a 6-2 run fueled by kills from Lowe and Kelley, and service aces from Dowd gave the Broncos match-point. Junior Lowe ended the first game for Santa Clara with a kill, 30-24.
Santa Clara and Portland battled point-for-point in the start of the second game. The Broncos tied the score, 10-10, on a Pilots' service error. Santa Clara widened the gap to five-points on a kill from Evans, 17-12, but was then halted on a 5-0 run by Portland that tied the score, 17-17. Yet, the Broncos were not about to give up control of the game and pushed to a 26-21 lead and back-to-back aces from Evans finished game two, 30-23.
Four kills from Evans helped Santa Clara to a 6-3 start in the third game. Portland brought the score within one, 6-5 on two points from Jessica Clemens but that was the closest they would get to knotting the score. The Broncos pushed through the second half of the third game, taking a 5-1 run to make the score 25-19. A block assist from Crystal Matich and Clark put an end to an attempted run by the Pilots and a kill from Clark made the score, 29-23. Outside hitter Kelley brought the match to a close for Santa Clara, 30-24.
The Broncos return to the Leavey Center next week for their final two home games of the regular season. Santa Clara will play the Dons of San Francisco on Thursday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. and then the Toreros of San Diego on Saturday, Nov. 3 at 1 p.m.
