Volleyball falls in battle with Zags

By Margo Consul

Last Saturday, the Santa Clara volleyball team took on West Coast Conference rival Gonzaga in the annual Dig for the Cure match. Despite falling behind two sets to none, the Bulldogs came back to defeat Santa Clara for the first time in 15 years, 3-2.

Gonzaga has taken Santa Clara to five close five-set matches in the past 15 years but hasn't been able to overcome the Broncos since they earned a 3-0 sweep on Nov. 4, 1994.

"We took the foot off the gas pedal just a little bit," Head Coach John Wallace said in response to the loss. "We were just very inconsistent, and (Gonzaga) was consistently going for it, and they changed the complexity of the match. We couldn't ever get that back. We couldn't ever figure a way to get back on track."

In the first set, the teams would go back and forth until kills by Katherine Douglas and Lindsy Davigeadono would give the team a four point lead at 17-13. Santa Clara would keep the Zags from getting within more than three points for the rest of the match to win it by a score of 25-17.

In the second set, freshman Kayla Lommori scored a kill on the first point, which would be the first of her five kills in set two alone. The point would give Santa Clara the ball and Lommori then went on to serve two aces and force two side outs to give the Broncos a 5-0 lead. The Broncos easily won the set by a score of 25-12.

The Bulldogs got an early jump in the third set with a 5-2 lead. At 7-12 Santa Clara would score three kills, and Samantha Selsky's ace would bring the Broncos within three points.

However, Gonzaga would then take control and push their lead to 17-10 and never look back. Clara would go on a four-point run that included two more kills by Lommori to close the gap to 18-23, but that would be as close as they would get. Gonzaga took the set 25-19.

The teams traded points early on in the fourth set to make the score 7-7. Ball handling errors would see Santa Clara down 8-12 before they took a timeout. After the timeout, the Broncos would pull within one as outside hitter Krista Kelley had three kills to make the score 15-14 and force a Gonzaga timeout.

The Bulldogs pulled ahead 21-16 off four straight kills. The teams would then trade points which would keep Gonazga ahead to take the set 21-25.

Tensions were high in the fifth set as the teams rallied for every point. They would tie at 4-4 with a kill by Douglas and tie again at 7-7 with a call by the referee on Santa Clara for four hits.

The referee would intervene two more times in the match for doubles. Her calls caught some controversy as the crowd booed and the coaches questioned her consistency.

Davigeadono would land a kill for Santa Clara to make the score 10-11, but a service error by Kelley would increase the deficit to 10-12.

Douglas would rally the team with a kill to make the score 12-13, but it would not be enough. Gonzaga would take the fifth set 12-15.

Wallace's team fought hard, but despite a two-set lead, ran out of gas and could not come away victorious.

"I think (Lommori) played really, really hard and got after it, and she kind of ran out of gas there and she struggled at the end which is why we had to get somebody else in there," he said.

Lommori would finish as kill leader for the match with 17. Davigeadono added 11 and freshman Katherine Douglas had nine.

Wallace reflected on his team's failure to close out the match, noting the team's youth as a factor.

"With this group, it is a matter of finding out how to win and becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable, and we're just not there yet as a team. As a group and with a lot of young people out there it takes more time than you would think," Wallace said. "Hopefully we'll stick together and stay unified and do what is necessary to get back on track."

In the Dig for the Cure match, supporters can put down a flat donation or pledge a dollar a dig to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. The dig count can be for an individual player or for the team total, and all the earnings will go directly to the foundation.

The teams totaled 118 digs throughout the five-game match. In regards to their team's digs, Santa Clara raised $7,250, surpassing last year's total of $6,800.

Santa Clara, which totaled 67 digs, was led by Bridget O'Hara (20 digs) and Selsky (15). Gonzaga totaled 51 digs, 16 coming from Allyson Powell.

The Komen foundation was established in 1982 by Komen's sister Nancy G. Brinker. It was developed in honor of Komen, who passed away at the age of 36 after battling the disease for three years. According to the foundation's official Web site, since its inception, they have raised more than $1 billion for research for a cure.

Women have a one in eight chance to develop breast cancer in the United States, and it is the most common cancer among women.

It is also the second leading cause of death after skin cancer.

There are about 2.5 million breast cancer survivors in the US, according to the American Cancer society.

The ACS predicts that there will be 192,370 new cases of breast cancer diagnosed in American women in 2009.

The Broncos will be back in action in Southern California, taking on Loyola Marymount on October 22 at 7 p.m.

Contact Margo Consul at mconsul@scu.edu or (408) 551-1918.