SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Santa Clara volleyball continues its nine-match road trip Thursday, Sept. 10 and Friday, Sept. 11 with three matches in Texas. The Broncos first head to San Antonio for a 3:30 p.m. matchup against UTSA Thursday, before Friday contests against Iona at 8 a.m. and No. 4 Texas at 5:30 p.m. as part of the Texas Classic in Austin. After winning all nine sets of their opening weekend matches, the Broncos went 1-2 last weekend at the Lobo Classic in Albuquerque, N.M. They fell to New Mexico 3-0 and SMU 3-1, and picked up a 3-0 sweep of Cal State Fullerton to round out the weekend.
Match Notes - September 10-11, 2015
SANTA CLARA at UTSA
Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015 • 3:30 p.m. PDT
Game #7 • Away Game #2 • San Antonio, Texas
Live Stats: www.goutsa.com
Live Video: www.goutsa.com
Series: Santa Clara Leads 3-0
Last Meeting: Sept. 17, 2011 in Austin (Texas Tournament) — Santa Clara won 3-2
SANTA CLARA vs. Iona
Friday, Sept. 11, 2015 • 8 a.m. PDT
Game #8 • Neutral Game #3 • Austin, Texas
Live Stats: www.sidearmstats.com/texas/wvball
Live Video: Longhorn Network
Series: Have Not Met
SANTA CLARA at Texas
Friday, Sept. 11, 2015 • 5:30 p.m.
Game #9 • Away Game #3 • Austin, Texas
Live Stats: www.sidearmstats.com/texas/wvball
Live Video: Longhorn Network
Series: Texas Leads 2-0
Last Meeting: Sept. 16, 2011 in Austin — No. 8 Texas Won 3-0
THE BRONCOS
Santa Clara dropped its first match of the 2015 season Friday night 22-25, 20-25, 20-25 to New Mexico. The Broncos could not hold a lead despite building a three-point advantage in the first set and multiple eight-point leads in the third set. Sabrina Clayton made her season debut for the Broncos, and led all players with 13 kills.
On Saturday, Santa Clara fell to SMU 21-25, 25-22, 18-25, 22-25. In their second match, Santa Clara swept Cal State Fullerton 25-12, 25-11, 25-17 to round out the weekend at 1-2. Anna McCreadie and Nikki Hess tied for a match high 10 kills, and GiGi Cresto led all players with 27 assists in Santa Clara's win over the Titans.
Hess leads the team with 81 kills (4.5 k/s) and has three double-doubles this season. Mead has tallied 196 assists for a 10.8 a/s average, Jensen Cunningham leads the Broncos with 27 blocks (1.50 blk/s) and Danielle Rottman has 114 digs (6.00 d/s).
Head coach Jon Wallace is in his 17th season with the Broncos. He enters the weekend with a 312-170 career head coaching record (.647 winning percentage).
THE OPPONENTS
UTSA has played a busy schedule to start the season, with eight matches between Friday, Aug. 28 and Monday, Sept. 7. The Roadrunners are 7-1 entering Thursday's tilt, and are coming off a 3-1 victory over No. 12 Oregon in their home-opening contest on Monday. Dajana Boskovic has amassed 117 kills on the season for a 4.68 kills/set average. The Roadrunners are outhitting opponents .249 to .128. Laura Groff is in her 14th season as head coach of UTSA. The team is 24-3 in its last 27 matches dating back to last season.
Iona took a 2-5 record into its Wednesday night match at Rider. The team won its first two matches of the season, 3-2 against Holy Cross and 3-0 against Quinnipiac. Prior to their matchup with the Broncs, the Gaels had been swept in four straight matches and lost 15 consecutive sets. Claire Archibald tops Iona with 69 kills and a 2.88 k/s average as of Tuesday, Sept. 8. Jon Killingbeck is in his fifth season as head coach of the Gaels.
No. 4 Texas started the season at 4-0, which included a 3-2 win over Nebraska, before falling 3-1 against Florida on Saturday as part of the VERT Challenge. Setter Chloe Collins has 171 assists for a 9.50 a/s average this season. The Longhorns are outhitting opponents .260 to .137. Texas made it to the NCAA Tournament national semifinal last season and lost to BYU 3-1 on Dec. 18, 2014. Jerritt Elliott is in his 15th season as head coach of the Longhorns.
GO BRONCOS!
