Oct. 26, 2009
Hitting better than .516 on a weekend sweep on the road, Santa Clara senior middle blocker Lindsy Davigeadono was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Week today. Santa Clara won at LMU and Pepperdine behind Davigeadono's 20 kills vs. the Lions and another 18 kills vs. the Waves. She averaged 4.22 kpg and 0.89 bpg in the nine sets this past weekend.
The Sonora, Calif. native is hitting .301 this season and leads the team with 215 kills, averaging a team-leading 2.83 kpg. She is tied for the team lead with .89 bpg. In WCC matches she is averaging 3.43 kpg and hitting .394 - both team highs. In addition, she is tied for second on the team with 0.67 bpg.
When asked why she has been playing so well lately Davigeadono shrugged her shoulders with an `I don't know' look on her face. "I have just been feeling really confident in my play lately and wanting to help my team by playing the best that I can. That is all I have really been trying to focus on rather than our struggles and trials. I have learned from past experiences that the more I worry about everyone else the more it hinders my play. I just have had to learn how to be calm and be a leader on the court through my actions."
The Broncos are 13-9 this season and 3-4 in the WCC. They have won three of their last four matches and host USF on Fri., Oct. 30 at 5 pm at the Leavey Center.
Davigeadono knows the importance of defending the Broncos home court and looks forward to the rematch vs. the Dons after falling 3-0 in San Francisco earlier this month. "We are going to definitely want to look for carry over from this weekend going into the USF match. I thought we played very competitive and we all played together as a team last weekend. We all learned that we need each other in order to win a match. USF is a really good team, but we are too so I hope that we will be able to take what we learned from this weekend and be able to bring to the match. We are a young team and we have learned many lessons. Now I think we are ready to just go out and play!"
Davigeadono, who stands at 6' 3, worked as the team's setter last year due to injury. Starting the season playing a 5-2 offense this season, Santa Clara had to go back to the 6-1 after freshman Alexandria Palmer went down with a wrist injury. Two weeks ago Emily Burke went down with a sprained ankle and right now freshman-redshirt Samantha Selsky, who tore her ACL prior to coming to school last season, is working as the team's setter. Davigeadono believes regardless of the setter, the team has to continue to work hard on and off the court.
"I have just been telling the setter's to set the ball high and I will take a wack at it! It has been hard due to the injuries with a number of setters this year. I try not to worry about it too much though cause there is nothing I can really do about it."
One of two seniors on a team with 11 underclassmen, Davigeadono knows she has to lead by her play on and off the court. She understands she is being judged by her work ethic. "I have just been trying to work hard every practice to help myself and my team get better. I am not the most vocal person out on the court but I have learned to take it out on the ball and to play confidently it gives my team mates confidence as well because they do not have to worry so much."
Davigeadono's play has gotten steadily better during the WCC slate. She points to the match at Saint Mary's, a 3-2 loss, as the turning point in her season personally.
"In the beginning of the season I was so worried about putting the ball in the right place. When we played at Saint Mary's I feel like that was when it finally clicked and ever since then I do not worry about where I need to place the ball because I know I can do it. Now I just hit the ball 10 times harder in a spot!"
Davigeadono has seen the team continue to grow and will remember the fourth game at LMU for a long time. Down 16-11, the Broncos came back from a timeout to score 14 of the next 15 points to win the set 25-17 and the match, 3-1.
"That was a lot of fun. I remember coming out on the court and we were down by a lot. I told Samantha give me the ball and we'd get this done. And she did! It was great! She gave me great sets and our team played great defense! Dana Knudsen had some great blocks and we all worked together to get the job done. It was a really fun match and we all were able to come together as a team and just play. We always seem to stress in those types of situations but we were finally able to learn how to just compete and play together. It was a lot of fun!"
