PHOENIX — It's week two of the 2022 season, and the timing is working out just right for the Santa Clara University volleyball team.
The Broncos got their second win of the year Friday with a 3-1 (25-21, 25-20, 17-25, 25-23) win over Wyoming on the first day of the GCU Invitational at Grand Canyon University's GCU Arena.
"We're working to really make sure we're being the best we can be in all our different roles," said Santa Clara head coach Erin Lindsey. I'm bring in different student-athletes in different moments for them to do their part for the team, and it's working out great so far."
Santa Clara (2-2) sent 12 different players on the court Friday, mixing in veterans with newcomers as it works to find the perfect lineup balance and rotation in these early season tournaments. Eight different players logged a kill, six had at least one assist, and nine collected one or more digs.
Julia Sangiacomo posted her first 20-kill performance of the season, falling one short of her career high with a match-high 26. She also led Santa Clara with a .396 hitting percentage and added seven digs, two service aces, two assists and a block. Sophia Tulino hit .350 with a season-high nine kills to go with two blocks and two digs. Nive Tuileta turned in a double-double with a match-high 41 assists and 13 digs. Kat Georgiadis had a season-high 19 digs.
Wyoming (0-4) was led by 12 kills from Corin Carruth and 10 from Kayla Mazzocca, who hit an impressive .714 with no errors (14 attempts). Carruth also had five service aces, three digs and a block. Kasia Partyka racked up 30 assists and had three blocks. Hailey Zuroske totaled 19 digs.
The Broncos came out blazing offensively, posting 38 total kills and hitting .394 across the first two sets. The defense was also strong, holding the Cowgirls to .197 hitting en route to a 2-0 match lead.
"We knew we were going to need to do a good job from the service line to get them off the net and out of system, and that's something that we worked on this week – and it really came through," said Lindsey.
Wyoming stepped up its own defensive efforts in the third and fourth sets. They dropped Santa Clara's team hitting percentage by nearly 400 points in the third set, holding them to just .036 hitting after the Broncos had hit .412 in the second. Wyoming won the third set, 25-17 to make it 2-1. It challenged Santa Clara in the fourth, totaling four blocks and leading by one at 23-22, looking to send the match to a deciding fifth set.
But Santa Clara is also feeling out its ability to face challenges early in 2022, and it stepped up on Friday.
"That what was so cool," said Lindsey about the Broncos responding to adversity against Wyoming. "Even going into the fourth set, I told the team that we know we need to win fourth sets to win championships. It was 22-all and it was so scrappy. (Wyoming) got some balls up and it was really impressive.
"They're a good team, they're a big team, they put up a pretty big block, so I was happy how we were able to perform offensively with their size."
Santa Clara scored the final three points of the set to come from behind and win, 25-23, clinching the match. A Wyoming service error made it 23-all, and then back-to-back solo blocks by Lexi Poppinga and Tulino sealed the victory.
The Broncos face Idaho (0-4) at 4:30 p.m. PDT on Saturday, then face host Grand Canyon (3-1) at 2 p.m. Sunday. Fans can find all live coverage links on SantaClaraBroncos.com.
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