DAVIS, Calif. -- Tuesday night's four-set victory against Sacramento State sets the stage for UC Davis women's volleyball and its visit to the Bay Area for the Santa Clara Invitational. The Aggies will square off with Boise State on Friday night at 5 p.m., then take on the host Broncos on Satuday at 6 p.m.
WHAT: Santa Clara Invitational
WHEN: Friday-Saturday, Sept. 7-8
WHERE: Leavey Center (Santa Clara, Calif.)
FRIDAY LIVE STATS: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=230433
SATURDAY LIVE STATS: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=222626
SATURDAY LIVE VIDEO: https://watchstadium.com/live/143507/
The tournament represents something of an annual gathering for UC Davis, Boise State and Santa Clara, as those three teams – plus Portland State – composed the field of the 2017 UC Davis Invitational and the 2016 Boise State Invitational. Those two tournaments also provided two of the program highlights of those respective seasons: in 2016, the Aggies claimed a five-set win over then-No. 17 Santa Clara for the first victory against a Top 25 team in almost three years. Then last year, UC Davis won a rollercoaster of a battle against BSU to finish up its home tournament.
Although this year's installment precedes the Big West Conference season by two weeks, the tournament has also long provided the Aggies with a springboard into the league season. "Boise State and Santa Clara are two very solid, tough teams that play great defense and productive offense," said head coach Dan Conners. "We will have to be mentally sharp and on our stuff going down there. I think that level of play prepares us for conference. They're just solid teams, and we need to be on our game to win those matches."
ABOUT THE AGGIES: Senior OH Emily Allen leads UC Davis with 105 kills (4.69 per set), with junior OH Lauren Matias (79 kills, .285 average) and sophomore MB Alexa Rockas (55 kills, .336) providing some extra offensive thump... Senior libero Malia Bolko leads the Big West with 5.92 digs per set (142 total)... Allen remains on pace to become the fourth player in school history to reach both 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career... The first to do so was Candy Lench (1989-92), now Candy Murphy, an assistant coach at Boise State.
ABOUT THE BRONCOS, PART ONE: Boise State went 3-0 at the Idaho State Invitational, scoring wins over Milwaukee (3-2), UC Riverside (3-0) and Idaho State (3-1)... Freshman MB Jessica Donahue totaled 20 blocks for the weekend to earn Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors... She also leads the Bronco hitters with a .355 average, while senior OH Sabryn Roberts has a team-best 4.05 kills per set average.
ABOUT THE BRONCOS, PART TWO: Santa Clara picked up wins over Wake Forest and Ohio before falling four sets to defending national champion Nebraska at the Ameritas Players Challenge last weekend... The Broncos have a highly balanced attack, with four players – OH Michelle Shaffer (2.76), OH Michelle Gajdka (2.48), MB Alexa Dreyer (2.24) and OPP Ngozi Nwabuzoh (2.50) averaging better than two kills per set.
