SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Santa Clara volleyball heads outside the state of California for the first time in the Spring 2021 season to wrap up the week. The Broncos face Gonzaga on Friday and Saturday in the Charlotte Y. Martin Centre. First serve for both West Coast Conference matches is set for 11:30 a.m.

The Broncos (2-4, 2-4) returned to match action earlier this week after a pause in all team-related activities due to a positive case from COVID-19 testing and related contact tracing. They split home contests against Portland in Leavey Center. The Pilots rallied from a 2-0 deficit Monday to win in five sets and the Broncos responded with a sweep win on Tuesday.

HOW TO WATCH ON WCC NETWORK

Santa Clara home matches and West Coast Conference matches are streamed live on WCC Network. All events are available at WCCSports.com/watch. Match-specific broadcast links will be posted on the schedule page and on Twitter (@SCUVolleyball).

THE BRONCOS

• This Season (Spring 2021): 2-4 (2-4 WCC, 2-3 Home, 0-1 Away) | Last Season (2019): 21-12 (10-8 WCC), NIVC Second Round

Julia Sangiacomo had a double-double with a career-high 27 kills and 17 digs on Monday. Sangiacomo's 27 kills were the most by a Bronco since Nov. 1, 2012, when Megan Anders registered 28 kills in a five-set victory at San Francisco.

Sangiacomo's 17 digs on Monday were one short of matching a career-high mark. She had 15 kills on .375 hitting in Tuesday's victory. The sophomore outside hitter has at least 12 kills in all six matches this season and is hitting .302 with 5.0 kills/set over her last three contests. On the season, she leads the WCC with 4.21 kills/set (27^th NCAA) and 4.79 points/set.

Sophia Tulino has at least 11 kills in all six matches this season and ranks eighth in the WCC with 4.29 points/set. The freshman outside hitter leads the WCC with 0.58 aces/set (16^th NCAA), and has posted multiple aces four times, including four aces in each of Santa Clara's first two matches against then-No. 18 San Diego.

Alex Anthony ranks second in the WCC with 1.21 blocks/set. The junior middle blocker posted a career-best 12 total blocks in a five-set match Feb. 23 at Pacific. As a team, Santa Clara is outblocking opponents 60-34 on the year.

HEAD COACH ERIN LINDSEY

Erin Lindsey is in her second season as head coach of Santa Clara volleyball. She is the 10th head coach for a program that dates back to 1963 and is in her second stint as a head coach after leading Dartmouth from 2011 to 2015. Her overall record as a head coach is 77-85 (23-16, 12-12 WCC at SCU). Lindsey joined the Broncos after winning a national championship as an assistant coach at Stanford in 2018.

Last season (2019), Santa Clara 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 went 21-12 overall for a 15-win improvement compared to the previous year and their first 20-win season since 2015. Lindsey became the first head coach in program history to start 6-0 in her debut season.

ACTIVE ROSTER BREAKDOWN

Santa Clara returns five student-athletes from 2019 on the active roster, all of whom saw the court last season. Senior libero Gretchen Reinert played in all 33 matches and all 124 sets. Junior setter/opposite Michelle Shaffer and sophomore outside hitter Julia Sangiacomo also played in all 33 matches.

Sangiacomo 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.

Reinert led the Broncos and finished fourth in the WCC with 451 digs. She reached the 20-dig mark seven times. The libero had 10 or more digs in the first 11 matches and 28 of 33 for the season.

Shaffer led SCU with 781 assists (6.35/set) while playing primarily in a two-setter system and topped the Broncos by recording 13 double-doubles. Her other season highlights included posting Santa Clara's first triple-double since 2003 (16 seasons), posting Santa Clara's first 20-20 match since 2017 (two seasons), becoming the second Bronco in program history to record a triple-double and a 20-20 match in the same season and tying an SCU single-match program record with eight aces, becoming the first Bronco since 1989 (30 seasons) and the fourth in program history to hit that mark from the service line.

Liliana Light (23 matches, 88 sets) and Alex Anthony (7 matches, 22 sets) round out the returning unit. Light played in each of the first 23 matches before missing the final 10 contests due to injury.

Santa Clara welcomes seven newcomers in freshmen Casey Campbell, Kat Georgiadis, Lexi Poppinga, Elena Radeff, Nani Spaar, Sophia Tulino and Lucy Walsh. Prepvolleyball.com recognized the group with an honorable mention on its list of top recruiting classes for 2020.

By Class: Seniors (1), juniors (3), sophomores (1), freshmen (7)

By State/Country: California (8), Texas (2), Hawai'i (1), Canada (1)

WCC PRESEASON POLL

The Broncos were picked to finish 4^th of 10 teams in the 2021 West Coast Conference Spring preseason poll. San Diego, the defending conference champion, was picked to win the WCC again 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.

THE BULLDOGS

• This Season (Spring 2021): 3-9 (3-9 WCC, 2-4 Home, 1-5 Away) | Last Season (2019): 11-19 (5-13 WCC)
• Picked to finish tied for 7^th of 10 (with Pacific) in 2021 WCC Spring preseason poll
• All-time series: Santa Clara leads Gonzaga 52-14 (first meeting 1987)
• 2019: 10/17 SCU won 3-0 @ SCU, 11/16 SCU won 3-1 @ GON

Gonzaga lost a pair of matches at Pepperdine last week, falling in three sets to the Waves on Friday and five sets on Saturday. The Bulldogs have lost three straight matches and six of their last seven contests overall. They have wins over Pacific, Saint Mary's and LMU.

Three Bulldogs rank second in the WCC in individual totals: Tia Andaya with 454 assists, Alyssa Hughes with 45 blocks and Sarah Penner with 17 aces. Penner is the team's leading attacker with 127 kills (2.59 kills/set). Chapin Gray (team-high 2.62 kills/set), Kennedy Croft (2.57 kills/set) and Hughes (1.96 kills/set) round out the balanced offense.

Opponents are hitting .246 against Gonzaga, the highest mark against any WCC team.

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GO BRONCOS!