VILLANOVA, Pa. — The Santa Clara University volleyball team did most of the fighting Saturday, coming from behind to beat the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in five sets, 3-2 (23-25, 25-21, 18-25, 25-23, 15-9) and extend its season-opening winning streak to five straight on the first day of the Catholic Challenge at Villanova University's Jake Nevin Field House.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Saturday's match was the true definition of a "back-and-forth" battle, with each team trading set wins through the first four sets. The first and fourth sets alone saw 10 ties each, while the match featured 23 total tie scores and nine lead changes.
• Santa Clara (5-0) had the upper hand late in the opening set. The Broncos erased an 18-16 deficit with a 6-1 run to take a 22-19 lead and lock eyes on a first-set victory. But Notre Dame (2-2) answered with its own 6-1 run, coming back to grab a 1-0 match lead with a 25-23 win in the opener.
• The Broncos made sure that didn't happen again in the second set, evening things at 1-1 with a 25-21 triumph. Santa Clara never trailed in the set and the score was only tied once at 3-3. Notre Dame made another attempt at a late surge with a 5-1 push that made it 24-21, but a kill by Sophia Tulino – one of her match-high 20 on the afternoon – sealed the deal.
• The Fighting Irish came right back in the third and did to the Broncos what they did in the second. Notre Dame never trailed in set three, hitting an impressive .448 with 15 team kills and also totaling 14 digs to take a 25-18 set win and go up, 2-1, in the match.
• Santa Clara had been there before, though, just eight days ago when it was down 2-1 to CSUN on Opening Day. The Broncos had to dig deep to grind out a fourth-set win. Tulino and Anna Stucchi were key to SCU's final push in set four. Tulino tied the score (for the final time in the set) at 19-19 with a kill, then a point later she and Stucchi teamed up for a block that put the Broncos up for good at 20-19. They'd both add a kill each in the set's final moments to keep the Broncos' lead at two points en route to the 25-23 win.
• Santa Clara made one decisive run in the fifth set, and it was all over. Notre Dame took an early 2-1 advantage with a kill from match leader Sydney Palazzolo and a service ace, but back came Tulino and Stucchi. Tulino answered immediately with a kill to tie the set at 2-2, while Stucchi had a kill, block and ace in what would be a decisive 7-1 run by the Broncos. Santa Clara won the set 15-9 with each of its final seven points coming on kills –two by Oren Abutbul (including the match's final point), two by Tulino, one from Stucchi, one from Lia Okammor and one from Layla Truitt.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 1st: Freshman defensive specialist Lexi Trapani played in her first collegiate match Saturday, strengthening the Broncos' defense with six digs and also tallying her first two career service aces.
• 2: Two Broncos logged double-doubles Saturday. Truitt finished with 14 kills and 10 digs, and setter Nive Tuileta collected 42 assists with 10 digs.
• 5-0: Santa Clara's 5-0 start is the Broncos' best start in four years. The team began the 2019 season – head coach Erin Lindsey's first with the program – with a 6-0 record.
• 7: Okammor finished with a match-high seven blocks. She now has 28 on the season and is averaging 1.4 blocks per set.
• 20: Tulino matched a season high with a team-best 20 kills white hitting .302. She also had 20 kills on Opening Day versus California Baptist.

POST-MATCH COMMENTS

Head Coach Erin Lindsey

• It's a big thing (to come from behind), because it was obviously against a team that had some size and skill in that they put pressure on us from the service line. Our passing in the first couple sets, really the first three sets, was not where we needed it to be. It was making it harder for us to score points.
• So, we started to clean that up and that helped a lot in the fourth and fifth sets. It's good for our team to learn and to go through a match and have to do that, and then it still ends up with a 'W' at the end. We have to make sure we're staying at it and staying resilient, and that's what I think the team did today.
   
• It doesn't only take the skill and the ability and the practice and the hard work… it also takes that belief when you're in it that you can make those changes. I think that's what we're seeing this year is more of that belief, and it comes from our athletes really trusting one another and working closely to communicate with the coaches and making sure that we're able to adapt.
   
• We were really happy to have Lexi, it was a huge, huge piece of why we were able to come back. She really settled our serve-receive and played some really good floor defense, especially as Notre Dame was tipping and taking some shorter, softer shots. Those shots were happening fast, and Lexi did a really nice job.

NEXT UP

• Santa Clara next faces host Villanova at 4 p.m. PDT on the final day of the Catholic Challenge. Fans can find all live coverage links on the Broncos' schedule page.