SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The Santa Clara University volleyball team's offense surged late Thursday and turned its West Coast Conference matchup with rival San Francisco into a battle, but the Dons prevailed at Leavey Center, winning 3-1 (25-19, 25-18, 18-25, 25-18).
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HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Santa Clara (9-11, 1-7 WCC) offense came alive in the third set, extending the match for a battle in the fourth. SCU hit .250 with 16 kills in the third after hitting a combined .009 through the first two sets. Six different Broncos notched kills in the set. Layla Truitt led them all with five, including four in a row to get Santa Clara out to an early 7-3 lead. The Broncos' 25-18 win in set three made the match score 2-1 after San Francisco (9-11, 3-5 WCC) had won the first two sets.
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- USF's defense forced 19 errors and had nine total blocks in the first two sets, but Santa Clara's defense was not to be outdone. The Broncos held the Dons to under .200 hitting in both the first (.190) and second (.182) sets. The defense had a part in SCU's set three win, too, limiting San Francisco to less than 10 kills (9) and only .103 hitting.
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- Set four was the real battle, as Santa Clara looked to force a deciding fifth frame. San Francisco got out to leads of 7-3 and 10-5 – but the Broncos weren't done. Santa Clara went on an exciting 5-0 run that included a kill and a block each from both Anna Stucchi and Oren Abutbul, and back-to-back aces from Nive Tuileta. Consecutive kills again from Stucchi and Abutbul tied the set at 14-14, but that was when USF pulled away.
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- The Dons went on a 6-1 run to build a 20-15 lead. They'd eventually close out the set and the match on what was an 11-4 stretch, capped by a match-clinching service ace from Abby Wadas.
NOTABLE NUMBERS
- 8: Tuileta logged her team-leading eighth double-double Thursday with 19 assists and 17 digs. The 17 digs were the third-most of Tuileta's career.
- 10: Stucchi led Santa Clara with a career-high 10 kills. She previously had nine kills on five occasions, including four times in 2023.
- 11: The Broncos totaled 11 blocks as a team, among their top-5 totals in a match this season. But San Francisco had 15 blocks – most by an SCU opponent this year and most since Pepperdine had 16.5 against the Broncos on Sept. 25, 2021.
POST-MATCH COMMENTS
NEXT UP
- Santa Clara kicks off the second half of WCC play at home Saturday when it hosts Pacific. First serve is scheduled for 1 p.m. Fans can purchase tickets and find all live coverage links on SantaClaraBroncos.com.
