Women's Volleyball Defeats San Francisco
By Ryan Marshall
The Santa Clara women's volleyball team continued their positive play this weekend by beating the University of San Francisco, three sets to one, in front of over 430 people at the Leavey Center. The Broncos are just one week removed from a forgettable four-game losing streak, but they have since put together back-to-back wins.
The match that ended the streak came last Thursday when Santa Clara beat the Lions of Loyola Marymount, 3-0. Coupling Thursday's victory with the Broncos' 3-1 win over USF on Saturday, the team seems to have somewhat tempered the effects of their four-game skid.
Santa Clara controlled most of the match, hitting .264 with 60 kills on the afternoon. They also came up with 73 digs, 57 assists, one service ace, six service errors and 12 team blocks. On the other side of the net, the Dons hit .151 with 48 kills, while collecting 52 digs, 45 assists, six service aces, nine service errors and eight team blocks.
The Broncos had four players in double-digit figures for kills, accounting for 50 of the 60 kills for the team. Junior Dana Knudsen led the team with 16 kills, junior Kayla Lommori and redshirt sophomore Katherine Douglas contributed 12 kills apiece and sophomore Megan Anders tacked on 10 more.
This balanced attack is something that has proved advantageous for Santa Clara, denying opponents the ability to key in on any one player.
"I think it says a lot about our team because it shows that we are versatile," said Knudsen, who also contributed three digs. "Our strength does not come from one player, but from everyone working together and making the whole system work."
Inherent in this advantage are the matchup problems created for other teams. Anders acknowledged that opponents have had to make crucial decisions about whom to block against a team like Santa Clara.
"With Dana running the slide the (opposing) blocker can't possibly block both (Dana) and the outside," said Anders. "They have to pick who to put one blocker against and who to put two blockers against, which leads to easier kills for both Dana and the outside."
In the first set, the Broncos came back from a 19-13 deficit to pull off the win 26-24 in what would turn out to be the closest set of the match. Understanding the need for coming out with early intensity, Anders collected five of her 10 kills in the first set.
"There are two places in a match where if you don't start off strong, it isn't good news: game one and game three," said Anders, who hit .429 during the match. "In game one we came out scrappy and fighting, and not only did that get us going in the right direction, it put the fear in USF."
The Dons fought back respectably and got out to an early 5-2 lead in set two. That lead was never relinquished by the Dons who led the rest of the set and won 25-20. Malina Terrell led USF by hitting .609 with 16 kills.
Both teams came out relatively strong after halftime, but the Broncos were able to extend an early 8-6 lead to a 20-13 lead later on. Santa Clara ended up winning the set 25-19, which Knudsen thought was crucial in relation to the rest of the match.
"I think the major game-changer was the third set," said Knudsen. "Our team has struggled this year with set three, so to come out on fire and start off the third and fourth sets strong won us the game."
The Broncos controlled the fourth set in a similar fashion, out ahead of the Dons by a very comfortable margin before winning 25-16. The dominance that Santa Clara asserted in the second half is a testament to the level of play they are capable of maintaining, a level they hope to carry through the remainder of the season.
After compiling two consecutive wins this past week, the Broncos have boosted their overall conference record to 4-5 (9-11 overall) with just seven games left to play. Santa Clara is at home again on Oct. 29, hosting a solid Brigham Young Cougars team (16-7, 5-5) at 1 p.m. in the Leavey Center.
Contact Ryan Marshall at rmarshall@scu.edu or (408) 554-4852.