Oct. 16, 2008
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Redshirt senior and two-time All-American Anna Cmaylo added yet another accomplishment to her volleyball resume Thursday night in the No. 18 Santa Clara (12-4, 4-1 WCC) volleyball match against No. 20 San Diego (13-3, 3-1 WCC) as she broke and set a new Bronco record for career block assists. Despite Santa Clara's 3-1 loss, Cmaylo's tally of four block assists against the Toreros brought her career count to 363, which is one more than former Bronco Jennifer Guigliano's record that was set in 1993.
Cmaylo also led Santa Clara and the match with her four block assists. She also chipped in a team-best 12 kills and a 40.9 hitting percentage. Senior outside hitter Brittany Lowe dished out a match-high four service aces, while sophomore outside hitter Krista Kelley had 12 kills and senior libero Taylor O'Brien collected 12 digs.
The start of the match was an even battle with each team pulling ahead with short leads. However, after the score was tied 5-5, San Diego went on a run that would end with an 11-7 lead on a kill by Amy DeGroot. Yet, Santa Clara began to chip away at that lead with a 6-3 run that evened the score at 14-14 on a kill by Kelley. After a head-to-head battle that was finally tied at 22-22, the Broncos produced a 3-1 run to win the set 25-23. Set point came on a Lowe kill.
The Broncos and Toreros opened the second set battling point-for-point once again. Yet, San Diego pulled ahead once again with a 4-1 run to make the score, 15-10. Santa Clara tried to rally back but USD held onto the advantage and sailed to a 25-17 win. The match was tied 1-1 heading into the break.
Returning in the third set, the teams once again exchanged point-for-point trying to gain control of the scoreboard. The Toreros broke free on a Bronco error and earned a three-point edge, 11-9, on a service ace by Breanne Ogden. After a called timeout by Santa Clara, the Broncos started to fight back and brought the score within one-point, 18-17, on back-to-back USD attacking errors. However, Santa Clara could not tie the score and San Diego went on to take a 2-1 lead with a 25-22 set three finish.
Like all three sets before it, the fourth and final set with a tight battle between Santa Clara and San Diego. The Broncos started off strong with a 4-1 lead on points from Lowe, Cmaylo and Nina Sevastopoulos. However, the Toreros fought back to knot the score, 5-5 on a kill by DeGroot. After the score was tied at 12-12, USD took its turn at the lead, widening the gap to four-points, 16-12, on a kill by Colleen Carlson. Yet, SCU took a surge and knotted the score, 19-19, on an ace by Kim Courtney. The set was tied twice more by the Broncos. The last was at 22-22; but, the Toreros dished out three straight points, on two kills from DeGroot and an SCU attack error, to mark the upset, 25-22.
Ashton Basch led the match for the Toreros with 17 kills, while DeGroot added 15 kills, Ali Troost chipped in with 12 kills and Torey Ellick registered 11 kills. Ellick also tied the match-high four total blocks.
The Broncos return to action on Saturday, Oct. 18 against the Dons of San Francisco. First serve is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Leavey Center.
