VOLLEYBALL ENDS SANTA CLARA DROUGHT WITH THREE-GAME SWEEP OF BRONCOS

10/9/2007

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Senior Lindsay Haupt matched her career high with 18 kills while adding a .607 hitting percentage (18-1-28) to lead Sacramento State to a three-game sweep of Santa Clara (32-30, 30-22, 30-28) in a non-conference volleyball match Tuesday evening at the Hornets Nest.

With the victory, Sacramento State won its 12th straight while improving to 18-3 overall. In addition, the Hornets snapped a nine-match losing streak against Santa Clara that dated back to 1999. Stanford now owns the longest active winning streak (nine straight wins) against the Hornets.

Not only has Sacramento State run off 12 straight wins, the team has done it in dominant fashion, posting eight straight three-game sweeps and 10 overall during the run. The 12-match winning streak is the second longest in the last eight years and the fourth longest since the program joined the Div. I ranks in 1991. In addition, the Hornets’ 18-3 record is the team’s best after 21 matches since the 1995 squad was 19-2.

Haupt, who had just one error during the match, had four kills in the first game and seven in each of the second and third games. The fourth-year senior is hitting .477 (159-26-279) during the team’s winning streak and has hit at least .500 seven times during that run.

Haupt combined with seniors Missie Stidham (17 kills, 15 digs), Jennifer Ferguson (9 kills, match-high tying 18 digs) and Michelle Franz (9 kills, .389 hitting percentage) to account for 54 of the Hornets’ 57 kills. With the score, 29-28, in the third game, Franz ended the match with a kill, and Ferguson put the final tally on the 32-30 first game with a kill. Stidham had 10 kills and eight digs in the first game.

Sacramento State freshman libero Chelsea Goodsell had 16 digs, sophomore Desiree Hoyum had three kills and a .750 hitting percentage, and junior Rose Burke added 53 assists, six digs and two blocks.

Sacramento State hit .246 with eight more kills than the Broncos (57-49) while finishing with 68 digs and limiting Santa Clara to a .177 hitting percentage. The Broncos were led by Kim Courtney’s 14 kills and 12 digs, while setter Crystal Matich added four kills, 40 assists, eight digs and a match-high six blocks.

The Hornets, who erased a 28-27 deficit in the first game, to take a 29-28, 30-29 and 31-30 lead before Ferguson’s hammer finally ended the frame in victorious fashion for Sacramento State. In the third game, Santa Clara clawed its way back from a 21-12 deficit to get within one point at 29-28 before Franz’s kill sent the 684 fans in attendance home happy.

Tonight was the first of a four-match homestand for Sacramento State as the team jumps back into Big Sky Conference play later this week against Portland State (Friday, Oct. 12) and Eastern Washington (Saturday, Oct. 13). Friday night’s match will feature the top two teams in the Big Sky as Portland State is currently 13-4 overall and 7-0 in the Big Sky.