ARLINGTON, Texas - Santa Clara volleyball picked up their second three-set win in as many days on Saturday morning, taking Down McNeese State, 3-0, to put a cap on their time at the UT Arlington Classic. The Broncos concluded the tournament with a 2-1 record with wins over McNeese and Louisiana Monroe, and their lone loss being a five-set thriller against host-UT Arlington. 

HOW IT HAPPENED: 

• The Broncos took the opening set, 25-16, thanks to a big scoring spree to race to the finish. Leading by just one at 14-13, Santa Clara (3-2) turned up the dial and outscored McNeese (2-4) 11-3 down the stretch to run away with the set win. 
• SCU opened the second set with a 5-1 advantage, but McNeese rallied back and took a two-point lead of their own following a 5-point scoring spree to make it 12-10. That would prove to be the last lead the Cowboys would hold for the remainder of the day, as Santa Clara scored four-straight of their own to regain the advantage and maintained it for rest of the set. The Broncos hit .385 with 13 kills and scored the final four points in the 25-19 victory. 
• It was all Broncos in the third and final set. SCU jumped out to a tremendous 11-0 advantage with Nive Tuileta at the serve, and never looked back. Oren Abutbul and Alayna Crabtree combined for 10 of the Broncos' game-high 15 kills as they ran away with a 25-13 victory to clinch it. 

NOTABLE NUMBERS:

• Crabtree once again led the Broncos with 11 kills - her fourth double-figure kill tally of the season while Cate Shanahan added nine kills and Abutbul logged seven more on a team-best .417 hitting.
• Freshman Halle Reiter once again led the team with 12 digs, besting her previous high of 10. 
• The Bronco Defense allowed McNeese to hit just .042 and logged six blocks. Grace Flanagan and Layla Truitt had three total blocks apiece. 
• The Broncos tallied 12 service aces, their most since notching 17 on Aug. 25, 2023 against CSUN. 
• Shanahan (25 kills, 2.5 kills per set, 18 digs) and Nive Tuileta (84 assists, 26 digs) were both named to the all-tournament team. 

UP NEXT:
The Broncos return to the comfort of home next week when they host the Santa Clara/SJSU Invitational at the Leavey Center, Friday through Sunday.