Box Score

Sacramento, Calif. – Santa Clara, led by the balanced attack of sophomore Kayla Lommori's match-high 16 kills, collected a 3-0 win at Sacramento State Wednesday night in its first match of three to be played in the next four days.  Santa Clara is 3-1 and Sac State moves to 2-2.

Santa Clara plays Idaho tomorrow night at 7 pm in Stockton before playing host-Pacific on Sat., Sept. 5 at 7 pm.

Bronco head coach Jon Wallace said while the gym was hot, it was a good atmosphere for the team to play in.  "We played well as a team tonight. We stayed confident and had great focus even if we didn't play particularly well.  We hung in there and played a real steady match throughout, not giving up a lot of runs and we stayed on track all night mentally."

Santa Clara hit .197 in the match with 50 kills, 70 digs and 42 assists. Sac State hit .164 in the match with 38 kills, 63 digs and 37 assists.  Santa Clara had seven team blocks and two service aces and Sac State had 12 team blocks and six service aces, but also had 11 service errors.

Santa Clara was led by Lommori's 16 kills and five digs. The WCC Player of the Week last week, Kaleigh Durket had 13 kills and eight digs.  Emily Burke collected 33 assists, 11 digs and was five of eight to hit .625 on the night.  Bridget O'Hara had 24 digs, one of her season high and Lexi Williamson collected 15 digs.  Sac State was led by Janelle Currey who collected 15 kills, hitting .184, with 10 digs. 

“Kayla worked really hard tonight and made a lot of good decisions in game three. Emily was really competitive and set a really good match,” added Wallace. “Sac State really loaded up on Dana Knudsen and she did well. She blocked really well. It might not have come out on the stat line, but she was very active at the net.  Bridget was really steady and very consistent.  There weren't a lot of needs for her to make spectacular plays, but she made all the easy ones all night.”

In the first set, Currey struck first with SCU's Kayla Lommori tying it with her first of 16 kills on the night.  The two teams tied it up three times before Santa Clara scored two straight on Hornet errors and a kill by Lommori to take a 6-4 lead.  SCU went up 10-6 on three Hornet errors in the next four points and then a Durket kill.  Sac State tied it up 11-11 on an ace and two Bronco hitting errors.  Two more Hornet hitting errors, including a team block by Schmidt and Durket, a kill by Durket and SCU took a three-point lead again at 14-11.  Sac State called for a timeout. After it, SCU went up 15-12 on a Hornet service error before the Broncos took a 20-15 lead on a kill by Burke, another by Lommori and two Hornet service errors.  Sac State again called for time.  After the play stoppage, SCU scored three of the next four points to take a 23-16 lead. Coming out of the Bronco timeout, Sac State scored again on a kill by Ashley Newcomb when Schmidt crushed the ball down the line and a kill by Durket and SCU won game one 25-20.  SCU hit .214 in the game with 12 kills and 16 digs.  Durket had five kills, collected four digs.  O'Hara had eight digs.  Sac State hit .077 and knocked down 11 kills with eight digs.  Currey had six kills, but four errors as well.  The Hornets had five service errors to SCU's one.

In set two,  SCU ran out to a 3-1 lead on a kill by Lommori, a team block by Durket and Schmidt and another Hornet service error.  Tied at 5-5, Sac State rallied to score four straight points to take a 9-5 lead.  Three kills by Knudsen and a ace by Williamson and the Broncos knotted it up at 9-9.  The two teams tied it up three more times when Santa Clara took a 15-12 lead on a Hornet service error, a kill by Durket and an ace by Lommori.  Sac State called timeout as the Broncos had won 10 of the last 13 points.  The two traded points as SCU went up 18-15 on two kills by Knudsen.  The teams then tied it up three times when Burke collected two kills and Durket one to take a 22-20 lead when the Hornets called timeout.  Sac State scored two straight on a kill and a Bronco hitting error to tie it up at 22-22.  After a Hornet service error, their eighth of the match, and a Durket kill, SCU went up 24-23.  Currey crushed the ball in the back-row to tie up 24-24.  SCU went up 25-24 on a kill by Knudsen in the middle.  Burke dumped the ball to give Santa Clara game two 26-24.  SCU hit .250 in game two with 19 kills and Sac State hit .256 with 12 kills.  Knudsen had eight kills in the set.

Lommori started set three with a kill and Schmidt followed with one of her own.  SCU went up 4-1 on a Hornet service error and an attack error by the Hornets.  A Hornet ball handling error and a team block by Knudsen and Durket put SCU up 6-2.  Sac State whistled for time.  Santa Clara scored four of the next seven points to take a 10-5 lead on back-to-back kills by Lommori.  Sac State scored four of the next five points before Lommori, Schmidt, Durket and Williamson collected kills to put SCU up 16-12.  Sac State scored four of the next seven points to get within two at 18-16 SCU.  A Lommori kill and an error by Currey and Sac State called time as SCU went up 20-16.  Currey and Lommori traded kills to put SCU up 21-17.  After two straight Hornet points, SCU called time.  Coming out of the timeout, Sac State scored four of the next six points to tie it up 23-23.  The two tied it up six times when a kill by Durket put SCU up 29-28 and a Hornet attack error gave SCU the set and the match, 30-28.