NEWS

SCU Finishes 5th at Las Vegas Open, March 22-23, 2008 - Coming Soon

Santa Clara Defeats Fresno St. & San Jose St. to Complete League Play, March 7-8, 2008

 After a week of rest from the league mini tournament, the Broncos hosted matches against San Jose State and Fresno State. During the San Jose State match, Logan Fox, Santa Cruz, CA (Palma HS), served 13 points and added 3 kills on 4 attempts to help defeat the Spartans 25-19-25-18.

The second match of the weekend faced the Broncos in a rematch from the previous weekend's loss at the mini tournament. With a week of rest, Colin Neidermeyer, Lafayette, CA (De La Salle), had 19 kills, Brian Bollinger, Kula, HI (Seabury Academy), added 9 kills, and Tyler Hinz, Santa Cruz, CA (Valley Christian HS), had 11 kills in the Broncos 30-28, 25-20, 15-25, 25-18, victory. Jon Chen, Rockville, MD (Walter Johnson HS), served 19 points including 3 aces. The Broncos also had 8 terminal team blocks.

With league play completed, Santa Clara's final two victories pluts the team at a 17-9 record on the season. The next stop for the Broncos is the Las Vegas Open on March 21-22, 2008.

Injuries Hamper Broncos at League Mini Tournament, March 1-2, 2008

The league mini tournament matches every team in league in a round robin to complete the second half schedule of league play. Santa Clara had matches against Cal, Stanford, Sacramento State, Chico State, UC Davis, Fresno State, Cal Poly, and Sonoma State. The Broncos unfortunately found themselves limping into the league mini tournament only 6 days after their successful weekend at Far Westerns.

During the weekend, four Santa Clara players fell to injuries. The remaining players fought their way to a 3-5 record beating Sacramento State, Chico State, and Stanford, but falling to Cal, UC Davis, Fresno State, Cal Poly, and Sonoma State. The Broncos took pride in the fact that they took Cal and Cal Poly to three games during their injured state. Santa Clara also learned that all of their players are capable of stepping up and playing well when they are needed.

Broncos Place 2nd at 2008 Far Westerns, February 25, 2008 

This past weekend the Broncos competed in the prestigious Far Westerns tournament held at UC Davis. In 2008, top teams such as UCLA, UCSD, Arizona, UCSB, SDSU, Air Force, Cal, Cal Poly, and Fresno St. competed in the 26 team tournament.

The Broncos opened the first day as the first seed in their pool. In the first two matches of the day, Santa Clara defeated scrappy San Jose St. 25-17, 25-15, followed by Cal Poly II 25-17, 25-19. Jon Takara, Honolulu, HI (Punahou HS) had a strong first two matches rolling up 9 kills. Jon Chen, Rockville, MD (Walter Johnson HS), and Dan Kwon, Fremont, CA (Mission San Jose HS), picked up 9 digs. In the last match of the day, SCU faced powerful UCSB. Santa Clara needed a win to hold onto their first seed going into the second day's power pools. Fortunately, the Broncos defeated UCSB 25-19, 26-28, 15-9, with 10 kills from Colin Neirdemeyer, Lafayette, CA (De La Salle), 9 kills from Brian Bollinger, Kula, HI (Seabury Academy), and precision service from Alex Gilbert, Fort Worth, TX (Trinity Valley HS).

Santa Clara opened the second day as the first seed in their power pool with San Francisco State and Chico State. After disposing of San Francisco State 25-17, 25-16, the Broncos defeated a determined Chico State 20-25, 25-20, 19-17. In a balanced match, both teams traded points until the Broncos were able to earn a victory in a close third game. With the victories, SCU ensured a spot as the #3 seed in the gold bracket.

The Bronco's side of the 12 team gold bracket consisted of UCLA, Arizona, UC Davis, UCSB, and Sacramento State. The other side of the bracket featured Cal Poly, UCSD, Fresno State, Cal, Chico State, and Sonoma State. With the #3 seed the Broncos earned a much needed bye for the first round of the playoffs. After the first round, SCU was matched up against tournament host, UC Davis, in the quarterfinals. During the match, Greg Kaplow, San Jose, CA (Bellarmine College Prep.), dominated the net with momentum changing blocks. Continuing their day's dominating performance, the Broncos rolled over UC Davis 25-23, 25-21, to earn a spot in the semifinals against Arizona, which dispatched UCLA in the other quarterfinal match.

Santa Clara began the semifinal match in a hole against Arizona. Luckily, tough hitting from Tyler Hinz, Santa Cruz, CA (Valley Christian HS), and precision team passing brought the Broncos back into the match. The Broncos eventually proved victorious against Arizona 25-22, 26-24.

SCU's victory over Arizona placed the Broncos in the finals against league rival Cal Poly. Cal Poly earlier defeated Sonoma State and Fresno State on their way to the finals. Unfortunately, the Broncos could not stop a hot Cal Poly team and fell 20-25, 23-25. However, the weekend was a huge success for Santa Clara. Going 7-1 and defeating some strong teams showed that SCU could play with any team in the west.

Broncos Name New Head and Assistant Coaches, January 19, 2008

The Broncos have elevated Robert Stamps, the team's 2007 assistant coach, to head coach. Robert returns to SCU after a one-year judicial clerkship. A former Cal Poly-SLO player during undergraduate studies, Robert joined the Santa Clara program in 2004 as a law student. At the 2004 national tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina, he received 2nd Team All-Tournament Honors.

Former two-year president, Scott Clark, will also re-join the Broncos as an assistant coach. Scott was a perennial first team all-league middle blocker during his four years at Santa Clara. Scott led the Broncos to a 5th place finish at the national tournament in 2007, and hopes to improve upon that finish this year as an assistant coach. Scott currently works for Ernst & Young in Palo Alto, CA.

Former head coach, Brandon Kosai, makes the jump over to the strong Santa Clara Women's team as the new head coach. Robert Stamps will join Brandon as an assistant coach for the women. Both coaches inherit a women's team that went 22-0 in 2007.

2007-08 New Recruits, October 2007

After finishing 5th in the nation at Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky, the Santa Clara Broncos have added a strong freshman class to reload for a national title run in Dallas, Texas, and the years ahead. Sean Fleming, a setter from Hawthorne, CA (Bishop Montgomery HS), plans to step in immediately to replace All-American HM setter Jason Kennedy. Greg Kaplow (MB/RS) and Jason VonRaesfeld (MB) from San Jose, CA (Bellarmine College Prep.) intend to strengthen the Broncos in the middle for the graduating four-year starting middle blocker Scott Clark. Kevin Rowe, an outside hitter from Sacramento, CA (Jesuit HS), and Alex Gilbert from Fort Worth, TX (Trinity Valley HS) round out the new freshman class for the Broncos.

Broncos Finish 5th in the Nation in Louisville, April 2007

The Broncos returned from Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky, with a successful 5th place finish. This year's finish ties the 2007 team's 5th place finish as the highest finish in Division I for the SCU program. The men's program has a long history of success at the national tournament. Since entering Division I in 2005, the team has placed 9th, 5th, and 5th, respectively. Previously, the Broncos placed 3rd in Division II for two consecutive years in 2003 and 2004, and 5th in 2002. In 2000, the Broncos finished second in Division III.

At Louisville, the Broncos entered the tournament as the #14 ranked team in the nation. In the first day of pool play SCU defeated Pittsburgh 25-19, 25-22, and Northern Illinois 25-16, 23-25, 15-11. The biggest match of the day saw the Broncos defeat #11 San Diego State University 25-20, 30-28, to capture the #11 ranking going into the second day's championship pools.

Competition on day two of the national tournament is fierce with only the top two teams from the championship pools advancing to the final day's gold division. In the Bronco's championship pool were #21 Texas A&M and league rival, #6 UC Davis. In the first match, Santa Clara lost a close match against Texas A&M 25-21, 23-25, 14-16. This placed the Broncos into a must win match against UC Davis. The Broncos came out on fire and disposed of UC Davis 25-22, 25-20, placing all teams in the championship pool at 1-1 for a three-way tie. UC Davis and Texas A&M had to play a one game playoff after a coin toss determined that the Broncos would face the winner of the one game match. After defeating Texas A&M, UC Davis again faced Santa Clara in a one game match to determine who would retain the #6 ranking going into the final day's gold division. Unfortunately, the Broncos fell to UC Davis and entered the final day's gold division with the #11 ranking.

The final day's gold division features the top-16 teams from the championship pools. Competition on SCU's side of the bracket included Illinois, Notre Dame, Arizona, UCLA, Oshkosh, North Eastern, and Central Florida. The bottom portion of the bracket contained SDSU, Maryland, Michigan State, UC Davis, Utah Valley State, Arizona State, Virginia Tech, and Lakeland College. For the second year in a row Santa Clara faced Notre Dame in the first round. Again, the Broncos handed a loss to Notre Dame 25-17, 21-25, 15-11. This placed the Broncos against the #1 ranked team in the nation for the second consecutive year in the quarterfinals. Other teams making the quarterfinals included Illinois, UCLA, Oshkosh, Maryland, UC Davis, Utah Valley State, and Lakeland College.

In the quarterfinals Santa Clara was forced to confront perennial powerhouse, #1 Illinois. After battling Illinois with all they had, the Broncos could not overcome the Fighting Illini's superior height and blocking presence. The Broncos fell 21-25, 17-25, to finish 5th in the national tournament.

In all, the tournament was a huge success for Santa Clara. Freshman right side hitter, Colin Neidermeyer, Lafayette, CA (De La Salle HS) earned 2nd Team All-Tournament honors, and senior setter Jason Kennedy earned Honorable Mention All-Tournament honors. The team will look to build on its 5th place finish in Louisville, Kentucky, and continue to improve as a program in Dallas, Texas, in 2008. Extra thanks to graduating senior Jeff Young, San Diego, CA (Mt. Carmel HS), and two-year president Scott Clark, San Jose, CA (Bellarmine College Prep.), for their hard work and dedication to the Santa Clara program.

Previous Nationals News

Broncos Finish 5th in the Nation in Salt Lake City, April 16, 2006

The Broncos returned home from Salt Lake City today after concluding their season with the program’s most successful finish at the NIRSA national championships.  Early Wednesday morning, both the men’s and women’s club teams departed from the San Jose airport before competition began on Thursday.  They arrived at around noon and settled in at the hotel before a brief practice at the Salt Palace convention center to adjust to the altitude and new surroundings of the giant room filled with 30 courts.  After a bite to eat in downtown Salt Lake, the Broncos went back to the hotel for some rest and relaxation before Division-I play started the next morning at 8 am.  Santa Clara entered the tournament with the number 17 seed out of 48 D-I teams and faced a pool including #8 UCLA, U of Wisconsin-Madison, and Miami (Ohio).  The Broncos needed at least a third place finish to stay in medal contention; a first place finish would bring a bye from the morning challenge matches the next day.

Before the rest of the players began their tournament, sophomore Jayce Kaiser began showcasing his talent by opening the first day with an inspiring rendition of the national anthem.  The Broncos opened play against the 4^th-seeded team in their pool, the Redhawks from Miami University.  After struggling on the first day last year, the team knew that they couldn’t lose focus and came out swinging to defeat the Redhawks soundly 25-22, 25-18 behind strong serving from Jayce Kaiser and consistent firepower and intensity in the middle from Matt Brubaker.  After a brief break, the Wisconsin Badgers were next for the Broncos.  Wisconsin has been a recent hot-spot for club volleyball over the past couple of years, so the team knew they were in for a challenge.  After opening the first game to a quick 8-1 deficit, the Broncos failed to put together any streaks of their own and lost the first game 15-25.  After regrouping between games, Santa Clara put together a strong performance in game 2 with a 25-19 victory before falling in game 3 14-16.  This loss put the Broncos in danger of placing 3^rd in the pool unless they could knock off top-seeded UCLA.  Santa Clara came out with a newfound vigor against the Bruins and blew them away in the first game 25-16.  The Bruins forced a third game after a hard-fought second game featuring classic back-and-forth side out volleyball with a 23-25 victory.  Santa Clara jumped out to an early lead in game 3 before the Bruins came back and tied the score at 8.  From that point on the teams traded points until the Broncos finally pulled through with a 20-18 victory behind strong jump serving in the clutch from Brian Bollinger.  This victory, coupled with a Madison defeat at the hands of Miami, put the Broncos at the top of their pool and gave them a bye into the power-pools the next morning.  Perhaps more importantly, the victory proved that the team had what it took to hang with the top teams in the country and gave them a renewed confidence for the rest of the tournament.

The Broncos were placed in a pool with 16^th ranked Utah Valley State University who won their day 1 pool by knocking off the Broncos’ league rival Cal Poly.  The pool was completed with the Texas Longhorns who defeated UCSD in a challenge match to move up earlier in the morning.  The top 2 teams would move on to the gold bracket on the last day.  Texas defeated UVSU in the first match of the pool before the new-look Broncos took the court for the first time on day 2.  Santa Clara came out strong behind great hitting from Robert Stamps at the opposite and block after block from freshman middle Adam Marsden and knocked off Texas 25-18, 25-21.  The Broncos now needed to beat UVSU to avoid a 3-way tie and one-game playoff to determine who would move on.  Utah Valley, a traditional contender, had the Broncos outsized in almost every position, but junior setter Jason Kennedy moved the ball around with the aid of consistent passing from serve receivers Cody Morse, Brian Bollinger, Mark Almassy, and Jon Chen.  Scott Clark repeatedly put the ball away from the middle and the Broncos but together a sound 25-22, 25-20 victory to win the pool move into the round of 16 the following day with perhaps the most momentum of any team.

The Broncos faced a first-round match-up with the #14 Fighting Irish of Notre Dame along with the rest of their half of the bracket that consisted of top seeded University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, U of Utah, Illinois, Lakeland College, Colorado, and San Jose State.  The bottom half of the bracket featured UCLA, Virginia Tech, Maryland, Texas, Marquette, Navy, Arizona, and Texas A&M.  By simply making it to the gold bracket of D-I, the Broncos already matched their best-ever finish, ninth place from last year. Santa Clara came out firing against a Notre Dame team very similar to their own: not very big, but consistent, smart and skilled.  Santa Clara came out fast and earned a victory in game 1 25-21.  The Broncos then went back and forth with Notre Dame in game 2 and had 5 match points but could not convert and finally lost the game 30-32.  In game 3, SCU came out fast and earned a 4-0 lead never to let up and won the match 15-10 on a dump blocked by Mark Almassy.  This put the Broncos into the quarterfinals with 7 teams: UW-Oshkosh, Colorado, Illinois, Marquette, Arizona, Maryland, and UCLA.  Santa Clara faced the wire-to-wire number one seeded University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh who was 53-1 going into the match.  Santa Clara came out firing and built a lead in game one which they held until they had game point at 24-23 when a questionable call cost them the point.  The Broncos failed to convert another game point before losing the game 28-26.  In the second game, Santa Clara trailed by a couple points the entire game before fighting back to 23-24 before losing match point and falling 23-25.  The Broncos played virtually flawless volleyball for the match but could not stop tournament MVP Mike Semrad, aside from one amazing dig by Cody Morse.  Brian Bollinger racked up kill after kill off of solid passing and amazing sets from Jason Kennedy.  Perhaps the highlight of the tournament was the chant from the crowd of over 100 of “He owns you!” every time Brian put another ball away.  Throughout the tournament the Broncos were bolstered by some of the loudest cheers of the tournament led by their bench and parent section along with the SCU women’s team.  There is little shame in falling so closely to the national champions and playing the best volleyball of the season at Salt Lake.  

The Santa Clara women’s team also fell in the quarterfinals to eventual national champion Texas.  All in all, the tournament was a flying success for the “over-achieving” Broncos.  They will look to build on this finish next year at the national championships in Louisville, Kentucky, as the returning players will start training hard after being inspired by this year’s unprecedented fifth-place finish.  Special thanks to the graduating players Brian Bollinger, Robert Stamps, and Tyler Zick for their years of hard work and countless contributions to the program.

Broncos Take Ninth at Nationals in Kansas City in Prestigious DI, July 18, 2005

The 2005 NIRSA Volleyball Club Championships were held in Kansas City, MO.  After placing third in Division II in 2003 and 2004, the team chose to compete in DI and prove itself amongst the nation’s elite club teams.  Entering the 2005 championships, the team earned the overall seventh seed for Division I.  Throughout the 2005 season, the team finished tied with UC-Berkeley for the best league record at 12-4 (NCCVL), finished third at the Far Westerns tournament hosted by Davis, finished second in the prestigious Great Eight Shootout hosted by UCSD, and finished third in the Las Vegas Tournament.

On day one of the tournament, the Broncos were the number one seed in a pool with Utah Valley, USD, and Northern Illinois.  Injuries keeping key contributors out of the lineup led to early upsets to Northern Illinois and Utah Valley both in straight sets.  The team breezed by USD in two and eventually finished third in the pool. 

All third seeds were sent to a challenge round in the morning on the second day of the tournament in order to remain in the gold bracket and the team faced the number eight seeded University of Dayton who also stumbled on day one but had proven to be a quality team throughout the year.  Playing with the complete starting lineup for the first time in the tournament, the Broncos stepped up to eliminate Dayton in a thrilling match winning 16-14 in game three.  The afternoon pool on day two consisted of UC-Berkeley who entered the tournament seeded number one overall and Penn State who defeated the Broncos in two games in San Diego.  Riding a rejuvenated confidence boost after defeating Dayton, the Broncos battled point after point in the most competitive match of the tournament against Penn St.  The team received revenge on Penn St by beating them in a come from behind victory by winning games two and three.  After dropping a quick two game match to UC-Berkeley, the team finished second in the pool and advanced into the gold championship bracket consisting of the top 16 teams in the nation. 

After losing the seventh overall seed on day one, the team battled back with a very successful day two in order to meet the goal of reaching the gold bracket.  Unfortunately the team held the fourteenth seed and had to play the third overall seeded University of Arizona.  With a chance to redeem yet another loss from that San Diego tournament to Arizona, the team had to play their best to remain in the single elimination bracket on the road to the championship.  Arizona came out extremely well with a very potent offensive attack and ended the Broncos’ chances of making it out of the first round.  The team lost in two straight games and finished the tournament tied for ninth.  The team actually defeated the eventual national champion, Marquette University, in pool play of the San Diego tournament.  Senior team captain Thomas O’Keefe was named to the Honorable Mention All Tournament Team.  With three seniors graduating, the broncos will return eleven total players including four of their starters.  A special thanks to the three seniors (Scott Almassy, Thomas O’Keefe, and James Ritchey) who have put in tremendous amounts of effort towards developing this program to national dominance.  With the continued support from many generous donors and the help from our two coaches (Jason Chapin and Shannon Noonan), next year’s team promises to remain as one of the top teams in the nation as it competes towards its first national championship.

Broncos Take 3rd in DII in Charlotte, NC, for Second Straight Year, April 10, 2004

The Broncos lost to Ohio Northern University 25-21, 25-23 in a hard fought semi-final match at the NIRSA Division 2 national championships in North Carolina.  Ohio Northern, a team stocked with experienced seniors, refused to lose to the young Broncos when a championship birth was on the line.  Early in game 2, Broncos freshman setter Jason Kennedy suffered a shoulder injury while diving for a ball.  He stayed in the game but was in noticeable pain.  He fought through the pain to set a magnificent match.  Junior outside hitter Thomas O’Keefe was the go to guy throughout the match, getting kills against the gigantic ONU block, and making Kennedy’s job a lot easier.  The loss was the Broncos’ first of the three day tournament.

The Broncos went into the tournament ranked as the number 1 team in a Division 2 field of 48 (schools with under 15,000 graduated and undergraduate enrollment).  This was a huge surprise as the team had six new players after graduating four strong seniors from the 2003 semi-final squad.  The first day went as planned with the Broncos dominating Idaho State 25-20, 25-19 to open up the tournament.  For freshman middle Scott Clark and sophomore middle Tyler Zick, it was their first exposure to the national championships, but you wouldn’t have guessed it by the way they played.  Both middles played a dominant role at the net and kept the other teams’ hitters in check.  The day continued with a 25-12, 25-18 drubbing of Sienna College.  This was a chance for freshman setter Sean Flaherty and freshman Libero Cody Morse to get some much deserved playing time.  Both played exceptionally, and the Broncos continued to roll.  To end the day, the Broncos knocked off a tough Southern Illinois team 25-19, 25-20.

The second and third days of nationals are a time for the veterans to step up and take charge, but this Broncos team had no seniors.  It did, however, have experienced players in opposite Robert Stamps, currently attending SCU Law, and Junior Libero Scott Almassy.  Along with O’Keefe, the “veterans” took charge on day 2 and led the Broncos to another undefeated day and a sweep of the state of Wisconsin.  The Broncos opened the day with a tough three game match against University of Wisconsin at Platteville.  The Broncos dominated the match, but UW refused to go down easily.  The Broncos eventually won 20-25, 25-20, 15-10.  The final match of the day pitted the Broncos against University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point.  This match was easier, but still no cake walk.  The Broncos pulled it out in two, 25-18, 25-23.

The final day of nationals is always exciting.  Based on their performance the previous two days, teams are put into a single elimination bracket where the winner takes all.  Since the Broncos had won all their matches, they retained the number one seed going into the final day.  The day began early at 8 am, but the Broncos did not let the time affect their play.  They came out strong against a weaker opponent in Messiah defeating them 25-22, 25-17.  In the national quarterfinals, the Broncos went up against a tough and determined Boston College team.  Sophomore outside hitter Brian Bollinger saw this match as his match to win, and a great chance to show off with some spectacular bounces.  He came out gunning with four or five hits that landed either on the ten-foot line or in the face of the BC defenders.  On the strength of Bollinger’s strong play, the Broncos held off the Golden Eagles 25-23, 21-25, 15-11, and moved on to face Ohio Northern in the national semi-finals.

The Broncos have always enjoyed success at the national championships.  In 2000, they placed 2nd in Division 3.  In 2002, the team placed 5^th in Division 2, losing to eventual champion Arizona.  In 2003, the Broncos finished 3^rd in Division 2, losing again to the eventual national champion, this time it was Milwaukee Area Technical College. 

With every player on the roster returning, the future looks bright for the Broncos.  They will be looking to bolster an already strong line-up with young players who want to make an impact and play for a perennial powerhouse.  Nothing short of a national championship berth will be expected out of the Broncos next year, and it should be fun to watch.

Five Broncos Honored with All-American Awards in Charlette, NC, April 10, 2004

The 3^rd place Broncos had five players named to the Division 2 All-American teams at the NIRSA national championships.  Freshman setter Jason Kennedy was named to the Honorable Mention team.  Graduate opposite Robert Stamps and sophomore outside hitter Brian Bollinger were named to the Second Team.  Junior outside hitter Thomas O’Keefe was named to the First Team All-American, and Junior Scott Almassy was named the All-American Libero for Division 2. 

This marks the second straight year that the Broncos have had five players named to the All- American team.  In 2003, O’Keefe and Almassy were both named to the Honorable Mention team along with three graduating seniors.