SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Santa Clara volleyball overcame a late first-set deficit and closed out the second set with a 6-0 run en route to defeating UC Riverside 25-23, 25-18, 25-14 Saturday night in the Leavey Center. The Broncos finished the opening weekend of their 2015 season at 3-0.

Santa Clara won all nine sets it played in the SCU/San Jose State Tournament, and was the only team in the tournament to go undefeated without dropping a set.

The Broncos (3-0) faced a trio of three-point deficits late in the first set, and used a timeout when the Highlanders (2-2) took a 21-18 lead. After UC Riverside's Chelsea Doyle put the visitors up 23-22 on a kill, Santa Clara's Natasha Calkins responded with a kill from right side to began a stretch of three straight Santa Clara points that ended the first set. Jensen Cunningham and Kirsten Mead combined for a block of Fabiana Rosas to get to set point, and Nikki Hess converted with the set-clinching kill.

Mead notched 15 assists and set the Broncos to a .353 hitting percentage in the opening stanza. Hess sported a .667 hitting percentage with a single-set best 10 kills for the weekend and led the team with five digs.

In the second set, Santa Clara built a 15-11 lead on the strength of Danielle Rottman's service ace, which got just under the diving effort of Rosas from the back row. The Highlanders scored the next five points to take the lead; six points later, the Broncos started off a 6-0 run to close out the set. Anna McCreadie posted consecutive kills to make the score 23-18 and finished off the set by blocking Alex Gresham's attempt to give the Broncos a two-set edge heading into the break.

Santa Clara cruised in the final set, jumping out to an 8-3 lead with the help of two blocks from McCreadie. The Bronco freshman tallied four of her 10 kills for the match in the final frame.

Hess led the Broncos with 13 kills and recorded nine digs, McCreadie added 10 kills and Mead assisted on 33 points in the win. Rottman led the Broncos with 13 digs; UC Riverside's Maddie Hubbell led all players with 14 digs. Rosas topped UC Riverside with 10 kills and Doyle posted 18 assists. 

The Broncos will travel to New Mexico for next weekend's Lobo Classic, featuring a Friday, Sept. 4 matchup with New Mexico followed by Saturday, Sept. 5 contests against SMU and Cal State Fullerton.

MATCH NOTES: First serve was at 7:05 p.m. … time of the match was 1:30 … attendance was 377.