SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Sacramento State volleyball team’s season ended

in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Thursday evening as it fell to

No. 4 seed and host Santa Clara, 3-0 (15-12, 15-10, 15-1), in front of a

crowd of 834 at the San Jose Event Center. The Hornets end their season

with a record of 21-12 while Santa Clara (27-4) advances to the second

round to face Long Beach State (23-7), who defeated San Jose State

(22-10) in the night’s early match.

Santa Clara dominated in almost every aspect of the match, holding the

advantage over the Hornets in kills (55-31), hitting percentage

(.248-.114), service aces (5-0), assists (53-31), digs (64-54) and team

blocks (5.0-4.0). Sacramento State’s .114 hitting percentage was the

team’s lowest mark since it hit .094 in a loss at Nevada on Sept. 23.

The Hornets also failed to record a service ace for the first time this

season.

Santa Clara’s Ynez Carrasco recorded a match-high 18 kills and 17 digs

while Brook Terhune and Amy Kohl each chipped in 10 kills. The Hornets

were led by sophomore Jayme Wright and junior Tasman Dwyer who each

finished with seven kills. Junior Kelly Voeltz led the team with 12 digs

while freshman Lisa Beauchene finished with six kills, a .545 hitting

percentage, 23 assists and five digs.

In the first game, Sacramento State jumped out to a 6-1 lead highlighted

by a pair of kills from Dwyer. Santa Clara responded with a run of nine

unanswered points, including a streak of eight-straight with Jami Bari

on the service line. After the Broncos increased their lead to 14-8, the

Hornets countered with a run of four unanswered points while staving off

three game points to close to within 14-12. That was as close as the

Hornets would get, however, as Carrasco struck for one of her game-high

seven kills to close out the first frame. Sacramento State hit .192 in

the game compared to Santa Clara’s .183 percentage.

Both teams exchanged leads early on in game two until the score was

knotted at 10-10. At that point, Santa Clara ran off five unanswered

points to close the frame. Bari served out the final four points in a

row as Carrasco again struck for one of her game-high eight kills to

close it out. Santa Clara hit .271 in the game while erasing Sacramento

State leads of 7-5, 9-7 and 10-9 in the process. Dwyer led the Hornets

in game two with four kills.

With the score tied 1-1 in the third game, Santa Clara’s Merrin Thompson

amazingly proceeded to serve out the final 14 points in a row. Seven

Hornet attack errors and two Thompson aces contributed to the Broncos’

run. Sacramento State hit -.217 (two kills, seven errors, 23 attacks)

while Santa Clara hit .364 in the frame.

Although Santa Clara was the host institution, it had to play its

matches at the San Jose Event Center due to the reconstruction of its

home facility, the Leavey Event Center.

In the evening’s early match, Long Beach State defeated San Jose State,

3-1 (17-15, 13-15, 15-11, 15-4), behind Cheryl Weaver and Tayyiba Haneef

who posted 22 and 21 kills, respectively. Besides the 22 kills, Weaver

also finished with 11 digs and nine blocks in the contest.