Santa Clara's volleyball team opened its 2012 season on the road this weekend with a 3-1 win over host SIU Edwardsville and a 3-2 win over Montana State a couple hours later on Saturday.  Santa Clara closes out its play in the SIUE Tournament with Western Illinois at 10 am Pacific on Sunday before playing at Saint Louis on Monday at 5:30 pm Pacific.

In the first match of the day vs. host SIU-E, Santa Clara hit .292 with 59 kills (29e, 144 att.).  It collected 56 assists, six aces (nine errors), 65 digs and five team blocks.  SIUE hit .138 with 40 kills (22e, 130 att.).  It collected 37 assists, two aces (four errors), 59 digs and four team blocks.

Santa Clara was led by its duo of middle blockers, Megan Anders and Texas transfer Haley Cameron.  Anders hit .524 (12k, 1e, 21att.) with three block assists and a block solo.  Cameron hit .360 (13k, 4e, 25att.).  Alyssa Anderson paced the offense with 51 assists and eight digs, hitting .667 (2 of 3).  Katherine Douglas collected nine kills, Taylor Milton 13 and Lexi Williamson 10.  Katy Schatzman led the Broncos with 23 digs as the libero and Ali Rambis added 10 digs and two aces.

No Cougar player hit double-digit kills and they were led by two players with eight kills each.

Set scores at SIUE were 25-22, 22-25, 25-17 and 25-10.

"We played well in our first match of the day - our first this season," said Bronco head coach Jon Wallace in his 14th year at the helm.  "I am pleased with our start.  We had a lot of new women on the court including Megan, Haley, mostly Taylor and Katy. It was a good opener. 

"Megan hit .524 and her and Haley played with great energy and great success in the middle," added Wallace.  "Alyssa played a nice match as well as the setter."

With an hour turnaround the team took the court for its second match of the day vs. Montana State and Wallace felt they were a little flat and that Montana State came out and played really well.  "Kat, Katy and Taylor were really steady for us and it helped us a lot," said Wallace.

Santa Clara defeated Montana State (2-1) 20-25, 25-19, 25-18, 21-25 and 15-13.

Santa Clara hit .232 with 62 kills (24e, 164 att.).  It collected 59 assists, 10 aces (17 errors),   76 digs and 10 team blocks.  Montana State hit .196 with 50 kills (20e, 153 att.).  It collected 46 assists, five aces (10 errors), 68 digs and 10 team blocks.

Santa Clara was led by four players in double figures: Milton had 16 kills (adding 14 digs), Douglas collected 13, Cameron 12 and Williamson 10.  Anders hit .348 with nine kills and Cameron hit .375.  Chelsea Heier, a transfer from Marquette, had 48 assists and 12 digs as the setter in her first match with the Broncos.  Schatzman had 23 digs.  Danielle Rottman also spelled her first time as a Bronco with four aces and five digs off the bench.

Sarah Horton of Montana State had a match-high 23 kills, hitting .238.

"We passed the ball well today and we did a nice job of attacking," said Wallace when reflecting on the two matches.  "I was pleased with the job Katy did as the libero. Chelsea did a nice job setting and now has her first match under her belt as a Bronco.  Dani came in and served four aces and five digs to give us some spark."

"We have a ways to go in terms of running our new system," said Wallace.  "We have some things to work on with the setters in terms of our speed.  We still have some work to do, but I am pleased with our start today."