Volleyball maintains WCC domination
By Erin Chambers
The No. 24 ranked women's volleyball continues to dominate in the West Coast Conference after earning a three game sweep off San Francisco last Saturday, improving their record to 5-2 in league.
Despite featuring only four upperclassmen on their roster, the young and potent Broncos have proven to be the team to beat in the WCC this season as they fight to win the championship for a second consecutive year.
"There have been a couple of upsets this year that could throw a couple of teams out of the race," sophomore Becky Potter said. "So far though, it looks like the top four teams are the same as always: us, Pepperdine, LMU and USD. We are confident, though, that we can remain undefeated for the rest of the year and, if Pepperdine loses, we can still tie for first. The worst we should do is second."
First is more like it this season, as offensively, the Broncos lead the conference in kills per game, assists per game and digs per game. Potter, last year's WCC Freshman of the Year continues to dominate in 2001, and three Broncos have already received WCC Player of the Week honors this season.
With an obvious advantage going into the match, Santa Clara dominated USF last Saturday in all categories. The Dons' record evened at 8-8 overall after the loss but fell to 3-4 in WCC play.
The start of the match was fairly even. No team had more than a two-point lead until 23-20, but four USF errors, three kills by freshman Toni Muratore and a service ace by junior Chrissy Hirsch sealed the first game victory for Santa Clara.
Three kills by Potter and five by Muratore gave the Broncos a 2-0 lead going into intermission, and the momentum continued into game three. Hirsch registered three service aces in a row to tie her career high record of four in a match. Finally, a kill by freshman Megan Johnson helped break a tie at 15-15, and the Broncos increased their lead by seven before calling a time-out.
Freshman Jennifer Ryan then scored two kills to set up match point, a kill by sophomore Becky Biniek.
"We got it into gear in the third game," Potter said.
Potter, Muratore and junior Cindy Hirsch each posted double digits in kills, leading the team to 58 kills on the match compared to 41 from San Francisco, while Senior Merrin Thompson's 16 digs lead both squads.
The Broncos return to WCC action this weekend at the Leavey Center, hosting Saint Mary's on Friday at 7 p.m. and San Diego on Saturday at 7 p.m.