SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Impressive numbers abounded Thursday as the Santa Clara University volleyball team took down Bay Area rival San Francisco on the road, 3-2 (25-22, 15-25, 25-22, 22-25, 15-11), in a West Coast Conference match inside War Memorial at the Sobrato Center.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Junior setter Nive Tuileta became the seventh player in Santa Clara volleyball history to reach 3,000 assists in a career when she set Oren Abutbul for a kill early in the first set, which made it 7-2 Broncos. Tuileta logged her 11th double-double of the season with a season-high 58 assists and 16 digs. She tied a career high with five service aces and added two blocks.
   
• Santa Clara (12-15, 4-11 WCC) would go on to win the first set, 25-22, and take a 1-0 match lead. It never trailed in the first, though San Francisco (10-17, 4-11 WCC) was able to tie the score four times.
   
• The match yo-yo'd from there, with each team trading set victories to force a deciding fifth frame. The Broncos held USF to .136 hitting in the third en route to another 25-22 set win, while the Dons restricted Santa Clara to .125 and .182 hitting, respectively, in the second and fourth sets, winning 25-15 and 25-22.
   
• The fifth set was close early, with neither team leading by more than one point through the first 13 rallies of the set. A quick 3-0 run by the Broncos gave them an 8-6 lead they would never relinquish. San Francisco pulled within one at 9-8, but Santa Clara scored six of the match's final nine points to win the fifth set, 15-11, and win the match, 3-2.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 3: Three Broncos finished with double-digit kills. Elena Radeff led all players with 18, Oren Abutbul had 15 while hitting .303, and Anna Stucchi turned in 12 kills with a .391 hitting percentage.
• 14: Alyssa Eimer continued to shine in the libero position since taking over the starting role on Oct. 26. She had 14 digs for her fifth double-digit digs performance in six starts.
• 1,293: Kat Georgiadis' four digs Thursday gave her 1,293 in her career, tying her for sixth all-time at Santa Clara with Danielle Rottman (2012-15). She needs seven more to become only the sixth Bronco ever to collect 1,300 career digs.

NEXT UP

• Santa Clara hosts LMU at 1 p.m. Saturday for Senior Day and its final match of 2023. Fans can purchase tickets and find all live coverage links on SantaClaraBroncos.com.