Santa Clara Water Polo Hosts Fierce Competition in Eye of the Storm

Santa Clara men’s water polo goes 1-1 on the final day of the Julian Fraser Memorial Tournament

Amidst historic rain and wind in California this past weekend, the Bronco men’s water polo team managed to split their final two games at the Julian Fraser Memorial Tournament on Sunday, Oct. 24. The event is held annually in Santa Clara in honor of former water polo player Julian Fraser who lost his life in the spring of 2017.

Entering Sunday, the Broncos had dropped their previous two tournament games, losing to Princeton and Harvard by one score each.

Santa Clara managed to rebound Sunday morning, cruising to a 19-8 victory over Iona College, who trailed the entire game. Zach Fales, Chase Raisin, Mason Jaeger, Andrew Carter, and Caedmon Fisher all scored twice in the match for the Broncos.

In Santa Clara’s final match-up of the tournament, seventh-ranked UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) proved to be a potent force as they dominated the Broncos on Sunday afternoon on the final day of the Tournament. The Gauchos put on an offensive display, much like Santa Clara had done earlier in the day versus Iona, defeating the Broncos 19-5.

Blake D’Souza managed to score twice for the Broncos against UCSB, who struggled to find offense elsewhere. Santa Clara had 14 scoring chances with an extra attacker as a result of power plays, but only tallied two goals.

The tournament did not pan out as the Broncos hoped as they dropped three out of their four games. They also had one of their games cancelled as Bucknell had travel issues.

This year the tournament featured 12 teams and 21 games over three days. San Jose State also held games on campus, including five on Saturday and three more on Sunday.

The Broncos are now sitting at 11-11 and will look to bounce back as the end of the season rapidly approaches. They will hit the road against the Concordia Eagles on Friday, Oct. 29, with match play expected to commence at 1:30 pm.

Volleyball’s Win Streak Comes to an End

Bronco women’s volleyball snap their four-game winning streak with a tough loss against Saint Mary's

The Santa Clara women's volleyball team lost a hard-fought match against Saint Mary's on Saturday afternoon, snapping the Broncos’ four-match winning streak.

The Broncos dropped a tight first set 25-21 before dominating the two following sets 12-25 and 8-25 to take a 2-1 set lead. Santa Clara looked to be in control, but the Gaels turned it around in the fourth set to even the match at two sets apiece.

In the final set, the Broncos committed five attack errors and were outhit .571 to -0.53. In other words, the Broncos were committing more errors than scoring points while the Gaels were scoring on over 50% of their hits. This hitting efficiency was vital for Saint Mary's as they took the final set 15-8 and completed the two-game season sweep of the Broncos.

After committing only four attack errors in the first three sets, the Broncos tallied a total of 12 errors in the last two sets. They are now 1-4 this season in matches that go to a deciding fifth set .

Michelle Shaffer led the way for the Broncos with a 20-kill, 12-dig double-double on .432 hitting. Nearly half of Shaffer’s hits resulted in points for the Broncos. Julia Sangiacomo added 16 kills.

Santa Clara had a slow start to the season, losing 11 of 15 games, including a seven-game losing streak. Nevertheless, they managed to turn it around as they rode a four-game winning streak into Saturday's match-up.

Santa Clara (8-12) will look to get back on the win column against San Diego on Thursday, Oct. 28. The game will be at Jenny Craig Pavilion in San Diego, with the match set to begin at 7 p.m.

Graphic Credit: Frida Rivera