Beach Volleyball Team Carried by Bronco Duo

Santa Clara’s top beach pairing dominate in opening weekend

Despite Santa Clara falling to five teams in the opening weekend of their 2020 campaign, one Bronco duo–Kathryn Decker and Michelle Shaffer–won four out of the five individual matches, losing only once to No. 14 Grand Canyon. 

The Broncos began their season with five dual matches against Oregon and Ottawa on Friday, Feb. 21,  UC Davis and San Jose State on Saturday and Grand Canyon on Sunday. In these dual matches, two teams represented by five pairs play each other, and each pair’s match counts toward points to determine the result as a team win or team loss. Decker and Shaffer dominated the sand all weekend long, playing as the No. 1 spot for Santa Clara. 

“Our focus for the weekend was to remain mentally engaged in every point,” Decker said. “We also had complete trust in each other and knew we could count on each other even when we were struggling.”

On the first day of the three-day competition, Decker and Shaffer defeated Oregon and Ottawa each in three sets. While the other Bronco pairs couldn’t overcome these opponents, Decker and Shaffer showed great chemistry and potential. They added two more wins to their belt the following day over UC Davis and crosstown rival San Jose State. Even though the third day resulted in their first loss against powerhouse Grand Canyon, the pair played aggressively and confidently through the match. 

“Grand Canyon has been an established, top-20 program for years and this is the best I have ever seen them,” Associate Head Coach Jeff Alzina said. “We learned a lot from their style of play today and we'll carry that experience forward to next week's duals in LA.”

Decker, Shaffer and the rest of the Broncos will head to Southern California this weekend to play in four dual matches against Concordia, Irvine, Cal State Bakersfield and No. 12 Long Beach State.  

Contact Lacey Yahnke at lyahnke@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.