Women's club team continues play

By Joe Doss-Antoun

Volleyball at Santa Clara has been very successful in recent years, but that success extends beyond the Divsion I team that reached the NCAA national semifinals last season, as the club team finished their season ranked fifth in the nation.

Even though the club volleyball team was dropped as a club sport by the Athletic Department, they continue to compete in the Northern California Collegiate Volleyball League.

Just don't call them the Santa Clara Broncos.

Instead, the club volleyball team is now the South Bay Broncos, and is competing with other universities under the unaffiliated name.

"They basically reduced us to an intramural team," said co-club president Chelsea Reilley.

The volleyball team registered as a recreational club under Associated Students in fall 2006, after the Athletic Department dropped them as a club sport because they duplicated the NCAA women's volleyball team.

Despite difficutly in gaining recognition from the university, the team won two of its first three matches this season, including a commanding victory over U.C. Davis' second team on Sunday.

Within the Broncos' league, the NCCVL, there are two U.C. Davis teams, Sacramento State, St. Mary's, Chico State, University of Nevada-Reno, Sonoma State, USF, two Stanford teams, U.C. Merced and two Central Pacific teams.

Central Pacific is essentially Cal Poly and San Luis Obisbo, but due to similar complications with duplicate teams, they also have an unaffiliated team name in order to comply with regulations.

The South Bay Broncos started the season ranked sixth in the country among club teams, but it's uncertain if they will get an opportunity to compete for a national championship.

In order to compete at nationals, the team must have university approval.

"We are going to fight it -- we want to go to nationals," Reilley said. "We deserve it."

The deadline to register for nationals is in March, and the players said they are trying to quickly work out an agreement with the Athletic Department before the deadline.

"We have some seniors on this team, and if things don't get worked out in time, they won't be able to compete nationally during their last year," Reilley said.

While the team doesn't know if it will be able to compete on a national level, the South Bay Broncos' schedule includes league games and regional tournaments.

The tournaments the team will attend include the Far Westerns in Davis and the Cross-Over Tournament between the north and south divisions in the NCCVL, which will be held at Stanford University. They also plan to attend a regional Las Vegas tournament.

Contact Joe Doss-Antoun at (408) 551-1918 or jdossantount@scu.edu.