Playing its second straight weeknight match in its second city, Santa Clara defeated the Big Sky Conference member Idaho 3-1. Game scores were 25-23, 23-25, 25-21 and 25-23. Santa Clara is 4-1 and Idaho is 2-2.
Santa Clara hit .192 with 62 kills, 76 digs and 61 assists. They also collected three service aces. Idaho hit .120 with 51 kills, 65 digs and 50 assists. They also collected two service aces.
Santa Clara had four hitters collect double-digit kills for the first time this season. Tanya Schmidt had a season-high 17 kills (pictured to the right), hitting .516. She was followed by Kaleigh Durket's 15, Dana Knudsen's 14 with six block assists and Kayla Lommori's 11. Emily Burke collected 52 assists and 13 digs. Bridget O'Hara scored a season-high 28 digs and Lexi Williamson had 12 digs and two aces. Idaho was led in kills by Alison Walker (17 kills) and Alicia Milo (14).
"Tanya had a great night. She was unbelieveable tonight. She was quick, moving the ball around and competing extremely well tonight," said Bronco head coach Jon Wallace. "We have been really steady in 20-20 games, taking care of the ball and playing aggressive when we need to. We have played consistently in those situations."
"Both our captains played well again,"added Wallace. "Bridget dug and controlled the ball. Emily set a nice match and played well at the net. Dana had the ending kill with a great swing after a great dig by Kaleigh which was a nice way end to the match."
"We have shown a lot of growth and are getting a lot better from match No. 1 to match No. 5 after tonight," said Wallace. "We had eight girls suit up tonight. It's tough when you only have eight in uniform, but the team rallied around that and played through it really well. We will take the whole day off tomorrow to rest their bodies before we play at Pacific on Saturday night."
In set one, SCU jumped out to a 6-0 lead. With Burke serving during the rally, Schmidt and Durket knocked down back-to-back kills to make it 4-0. After a Vandal hitting error and a kill by Schmidt, the Vandals halted play with SCU up 6-0. Idaho rallied after that, scoring six of the next 11 points to make it 10-6 SCU when Schmidt and Knudsen crushed balls to the back row. The two teams then traded points. Knudsen knocked down a kill in the middle, Idaho hit the ball out of bounds and Lommori's kill gave SCU a 14-9 lead. Idaho scrapped back to score four straight points with a combination of three kills and a team block. SCU got back on the board with a kill, an Idaho error and kill by Durket and Lommori to take an 18-14 lead. Idaho called timeout again. Santa Clara kept the pressure on, going up 23-17 on a Durket kill and then a team block by Knudsen and Durket. After Idaho scored three of the next four points, Wallace called timeout for the Broncos to regroup, up 24-21. A team block by Knudsen and Durket gave SCU a 25-23 win. SCU hit .128 in game one with 15 kills. Idaho hit -.023 with nine kills. Schmidt had five kills and O'Hara collected nine digs.
In set two the two teams tied it up twice early before Idaho took a 6-3 lead. Idaho scored two of the next thee points to go up 8-4 when SCU called timeout. After the Bronco timeout, Knudsen scored two of the next three points on kills to make it 9-6 Idaho. Idaho and Santa Clara continued to trade points with Idaho taking a 12-10 lead. Two Idaho kills and two Knudsen attack errors gave Idaho a 16-10 lead. An Idaho attack error halted its four-point run and then Williamson rallied for an ace and Burke and Knudsen posted a team block to make it 16-13 Idaho. Two straight kills by Lommori and a team block by Burke and Schmidt helped the Broncos take a 17-16 lead when Idaho called timeout. Idaho came out of the timeout to score four straight points, taking a 20-17 lead when SCU called timeout. Idaho scored three of the next four points to take a 23-18 lead. The two traded kills; and then SCU returned the favor with a team block by Schmidt and Durket, a block solo by Williamson and a team block by Knudsen and Durket made it 24-22 Idaho. Idaho had seen enough of the Bronco rally and called time. A Bronco attack error and then a kill gave Idaho a 25-23 set two win. SCU hit .081 with 11 kills and Idaho had 15 kills, hitting .128. SCU had five team blocks and Idaho had three with each collecting one ace. Knudsen had four kills in set two.
In set three, SCU took a 3-1 lead on an attack error by the Vandals, a team block by Schmidt and Knudsen and a kill by Durket. Idaho tied it up 3-3 on two straight kills, but Schmidt gave SCU a four-point lead, 7-3, with a kill in the middle, followed by another team block by Knudsen and Durket and a Durket kill. Durket and Knudsen had both collected five block assists in the match up to that point. A Durket ace and a Lommori kill gave SCU a 9-5 lead. A kill by Knudsen put SCU up 10-7, but Idaho came back to score two straight before Knudsen crushed her eighth kill of the match to give SCU an 11-9 lead. Schmidt gave SCU a 13-11 lead with her 10th kill of the match. SCU went up 16-12 on two straight Idaho hitting errors when it called timeout with SCU up 16-12. After the timeout Idaho scored two of the next three points before Schmidt crushed the ball, 18-14 SCU. Knudsen's kill gave SCU a 19-15 lead. Williamson collected her second ace of the match to give SCU a 21-16 lead when Idaho called time. After the timeout Idaho scored three of the next four points as SCU went up 22-19. Wallace halted play and with that, Idaho scored twice out of the Bronco timeout to make it 22-21 SCU. Wallace called his second timeout of the set. Schmidt knocked the ball down to the floor for a winner and Idaho followed up with two straight attack errors to give SCU a 25-21 set three win. SCU scored 15 kills, hitting .300 with two aces. Idaho scored 16 kills, hitting .200 with no aces. Schmidt and Durket led the Broncos with four kills each.
In set four the two tied it up five times when Knudsen scored two straight kills to give SCU a 7-5 lead. Idaho took a 9-7 lead after three Bronco errors and an ace. Timeout Santa Clara. Coming out of the huddle Idaho scored four of the next six points to take an 11-9 lead. A Vandal attack error and two straight Durket kills gave SCU a 12-11 lead. The two tied it up three times. Knudsen's kill and a team block by Knudsen and Burke gave SCU a 16-14 lead. Knudsen collected an attack error and Burke a ball handling error as Idaho tied it up 16-16 and then 17-17. SCU took 20-18 lead on back-to-back kills by Lommori and one by Schmidt. Idaho called timeout. After the huddle, Idaho blocked a Durket ball and collected a kill to tie it up. Idaho took a 23-22 lead on a Bronco ball handling error when SCU called timeout. Durket tied it up 23-23 with her 15th kill of the match. An Idaho attacking error put SCU up 24-23. Idaho called another timeout. Knudsen knocked down her 14th kill of the game to give SCU the set and the match, 25-23. SCU hit .245 to collect 21 kills. Idaho had 11 kills, hitting .184.
