Santa Clara, Calif. - Opening the 2010 home volleyball season at the Leavey Center, Santa Clara won in three sets vs. Portland State this morning. Game scores were 25-12, 25-20 and 25-13. Santa Clara is 5-2 and Portland State is 3-5. Santa Clara will continue play later this evening when it hosts CSU Northridge at 7 pm in the Leavey Center.
"We loved our energy and focus today," said Bronco head coach Jon Wallace. "Our middles worked extremely hard and showed great success for their efforts. Once again I felt our two captains, Emily Burke and Bridget O'Hara, did a really good job of leading the team. Ali Rambis came in and did a really good job in her role of serving with three aces. She really kept them off balance."
Santa Clara hit .326 with 39 kills, 37 assists and eight service aces. Portland State hit .000 with 23 kills, 23 assists and two service aces. Santa Clara collected 12 team blocks and Portland State had seven team blocks.
Santa Clara was led by Kaleigh Durket and Dana Knudsen, who both had 11 kills. Knudsen hit .600 in the match and had two block solos and six block assists. Durket added seven digs and a couple of aces. Emily Burke collected 34 assists, three kills, hitting 1.000, and three block assists. Kayla Lommori added eight kills and Bridget O'Hara had 10 digs. Portland State was led by Whitney Phillips' 15 kills.
In the early going in set one, the two teams tied it up five times before Santa Clara took a 9-6 lead when Knudsen crushed two straight kills to the right side. Portland State called timeout. Knudsen and Durket teamed up to score a couple more points and a Lommori block put the Broncos up 14-8 when Portland State called for time again. Lommori crushed a kill to the back row to make it 15-9. Knudsen's block solo gave SCU a 17-11 lead. Two straight Ali Rabmis service aces put SCU up 20-11. Knudsen and Williamson teamed up for their second team block and a Durket ace gave SCU a 22-12. After another Durket ace, Burke knocked the ball to the back row for a kill, giving SCU a 25-12. SCU hit .462 in the set with 13 kills and five team blocks. SCU was led by Knudsen's five kills. PSU hit .000 with seven kills and seven errors.
Set two started much like set one with the two teams trading points when a Lommori kill from the back row put SCU up 5-2. PSU rallied back to tie it up 6-6. Santa Clara scored five straight points, including a kill by Burke, to take an 11-6 lead. After a PSU timeout, the Vikings scored two, but a Knudsen kill made it 12-8. Back to back kills by Knudsen and Lommori made it 15-11 SCU. A Durket kill to the corner made it 18-13. A block solo and then a kill by Knudsen made it 21-15 SCU. Two straight team blocks by Knudsen and Burke made it 24-15 SCU. Four straight PSU kills made it 24-19 SCU when Wallace whistled for timeout. After the timeout a Knudsen error made 24-20 Broncos when Lommori knocked the ball to the back of the court to give SCU a 25-20 win. SCU hit .258 with 14 kills and six errors. Portland State hit .061 with 10 kills and eight errors. Durket had five kills in the set.
Lommori's serve helped the Broncos take a 6-1 in the early going of the third set when Portland State halted play with a timeout. After the timeout, a Lommori ace, two Viking errors and a Williamson kill made it 10-1 SCU. Portland State scored five of the next six points to make it 12-6 SCU. A Knudsen kill gave SCU a 13-7 lead. PSU scraped for two more points and then Wallace called timeout, up 13-9. The Vikings closed within four points when a Lommori kill and then a Schmidt block solo and then a Schmidt kill made it 18-11 SCU. Timeout Portland State. A Schmidt/Durket team block made it 19-12. Another Rambis ace, her third of the match, made it 21-12 SCU. A Knudsen kill, her 10th of the match, made it 23-13 SCU. A kill by Williamson in the back row and another crushing kill by Knudsen and Santa Clara won the set and match 25-13.
