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SAN MATEO, Calif. — Santa Clara volleyball was picked to finish fourth in the 2020-21 Spring West Coast Conference preseason poll and Julia Sangiacomo earned a spot on the preseason all-conference team, as announced by the WCC Wednesday. The team poll and preseason all-conference selections were voted on solely by the league's 10 head coaches.

Erin Lindsey, who is in her second season as head coach, led the Broncos to a stellar campaign in her first season at the helm in 2019. Santa Clara went 21-12 overall (10-8 WCC), reached the postseason for the first time since 2015 and won its first postseason match since 2008 by claiming an opening-round victory at Long Beach State in the NIVC. The Broncos logged a 15-win improvement compared to the previous year and won 20 matches for the first time since 2015.

Sangiacomo, entering her sophomore season, earned Second Team All-WCC and WCC All-Freshman team honors in her debut campaign on the Mission campus. She led the WCC with 492.5 points (4.14/set, led SCU, 2^nd WCC). The outside hitter also led SCU and all WCC freshmen while finishing second overall in the conference with 411 kills (3.45/set, led SCU/4^th WCC). Sangiacomo posted double-digit kills in 22 of 31 matches and had five double-doubles.

The Broncos return three student-athletes that played in all 33 matches last year: Sangiacomo, senior libero Gretchen Reinert (led SCU with 452 digs, played in all 124 sets) and junior setter/opposite Michelle Shaffer (Honorable Mention All-WCC).

San Diego, the defending conference champion, was picked to win the WCC again in the upcoming season with 78 points and seven first-place votes. The Toreros closely edged out BYU (72 points, one first-place vote) and Pepperdine (69 points, two first-place votes). The Broncos cracked the top four with 55 points. LMU (50), Saint Mary's (41), Pacific (27), Gonzaga (27), San Francisco (18) and Portland (13) rounded out the poll.

Last August, the WCC postponed the 2020 fall seasons for its member institutions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Check back with SantaClaraBroncos.com and twitter.com/scuvolleyball (@SCUVolleyball on Twitter) for information relevant to the schedule.