Nov. 7, 2009
Santa Clara fell 3-1 on Saturday night to first place Saint Mary's. Set scores were 25-23, 25-23, 23-25 and 25-17. Santa Clara is 14-11 and 4-6 in the WCC and first-place Saint Mary's moves to 18-4 and 10-1 in the WCC.
Santa Clara hit .180 with seven team blocks and three service aces. Saint Mary's hit .273 with 10 team blocks and six service aces. Individually SCU was led by freshman Katherine Douglas who collected a team-leading 13 kills, hitting .182 with six digs. Senior Lindsy Davigeadono hit .261 with 10 kills. Freshman Samantha Selsky had 43 assists and collected 14 digs. Libby Morrison had 12 digs in the losing effort.
Santa Clara struck first, scoring off a long rally on a kill by Knudsen on a set by Davigeadono. The two teams traded points in the early going, tying it up three times when SMC scored two straight on kills off the block to take a 6-4 lead. SMC moved the lead to 9-6 on a service ace and then 10-6 on a kill when Wallace called timeout. SCU scored two points out of the timeout, 10-8 SMC. Down 13-10, SCU scored on a Gael error and two kills by Knudsen to tie it up at 13-13. A service error and Santa Clara in the net and the Gaels once again had a two point lead, 15-13. But an error by SMC and an ace by Libby Morrison and it was back tied, 15-15. SMC moved ahead 20-16 before Wallace called timeout. After a SMC service error and a tip out of bounds and SCU was down 20-18. A Bronco hitting error gave the ball back to the Gaels who scored on their first serve and went up 22-18 before wacking it into the net. Two straight Bronco team blocks and SCU trailed by one when Saint Mary's stopped by with a timeout, up 22-21. The two teams traded points twice with SMC still ahead 24-23. SMC took game one 25-23 on a kill. SCU hit .111 and SMC hit .209. Knudsen had four kills and three Broncos collected four digs each.
In set two the two teams tied it up at 3-3 on a team block by the Broncos. Tied 4-4, SMC scored three straight before Knudsen crushed a kill in the front. A Bronco team block and a kill by Lommori and it was once again tied, 7-7. SCU went up 10-7 on a back-row kill by Lommori, a Gaels error and another Lommori kill. The teams traded points three times with two Tanya Schmidt kills giving SCU a 13-10 lead and two SMC errors making it 15-10 SCU. SMC called timeout. Trading points SCU went up 17-11 on two straight back-row kills. Davigeadono crushed the ball to the back to make it 18-12 SCU. SMC scored two straight points before Selsky dumped the ball to the middle to make it 19-14. The two teams traded hitting errors, pushing the SCU lead to 20-15. Again the teams traded points with Selsky dumping the ball for the third time in the middle and then a service ace by her gave SCU a 22-16 lead with SMC calling timeout. SMC scored three times out of the timeout when Wallace called timeout with SCU up 22-19. SMC scored on an ace and then a kill when SCU called time again, only up 22-21. SMC had scored five straight before Davigeadono crushed a kill to make it 23-22 SCU. A Gael kill tied it up again and they took the lead on a team block, 24-23 SMC. SMC won set two by winning nine of the last 10 points of the set, finishing it off 25-23. SCU hit .243 and SMC hit .324.
In set three SCU went up 3-1 and then 4-2 on a kill by Douglas. SCU moved ahead 7-3 on two Gael hitting errors. SCU advanced its lead to 8-5 on a Gael ball handling error and then 12-6 on two Kelley kills and a net error by SMC. The teams traded points twice with SCU maintaining the lead at 14-9. Four straight Gael points on service pushed SCU to call timeout at 14-13. SMC tied it 14-14 on a kill, scoring five straight before Davigeadono crushed a kill to to the back row, giving SCU a 15-14 lead. Another Morrison ace made it 16-14 SCU. SCU moved ahead 19-16 on a kill by Douglas off the block and another by Knudsen; and took a 21-18 lead on two SMC errors. After trading points after a Gael timeout, SMC pulled within one, 22-21 SCU, when Wallace called timeout. SMC tied it up 22-22 on a kill, but a Kelley tip gave SCU the lead again, 23-22. A Gael error and SCU marched ahead 24-22 when SMC called time again. A Douglas kill off the block gave SCU set three, 25-22. SCU hit .256 and SMC hit .265. Douglas had six kills in set three.
In set four Saint Mary's took a 2-0 lead, a Douglas kill and another by Davigeadono tied it up 2-2. Saint Mary's scored 10 of the next 12 points to take an 12-4 lead when SCU called its second timeout of the set. The two teams traded points twice. SCU rallied to score straight points off kills by Davigeadono and Douglas and a team block by Samantha Peters and Davigeadono, making it 14-10 SMC. A Davigeadono kill and two Saint Mary's errors quieted a two-point Gael rally. SMC scored three of the next four points to take a 20-14 lead. A Knudsen kill and a dump by Selsky make it 20-16 SMC when the Gaels called time. SMC won three of the next four points to take a 23-17 lead. A Gael team block and kill gave SMC the set and the match, 25-17. SCU hit .105 and SMC hit .308.
