SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The Santa Clara University women's volleyball team took down visiting Pacific, 3-1 (25-16, 21-25, 25-10, 26-24), Thursday in a West Coast Conference match at the Leavey Center, extending its active winning streak to four straight.
Cate Shanahan led the Broncos (8-10, 4-2 WCC) with 25 kills and added two service aces. It was the two-time defending WCC Offensive Player of the Week's second consecutive match with 25 terminations.
Lexi Trapani finished with a career-high 25 digs and five assists. Trapani surpassed the 1,000 career digs mark Thursday night, now sitting at 1,001.
Macy Hinshaw recorded 49 assists for the second consecutive match, along with 12 digs and two kills. She logged her second straight double-double and ninth in her last 10 matches.
Allison Dzieciuch added nine kills while hitting .353 and posted a season-high eight blocks.
The win was the Broncos' fourth in a row over the Tigers, a streak that started nearly exactly two years ago to the day, on Oct. 17, 2024, and also started at Leavey Center. The streak in the series is in response to a five-match run Pacific had over the Broncos from 2022-24. The Broncos lead the series in WCC games, 15-12, since the Tigers rejoined the conference in 2013.
Santa Clara moved from a 9-9 tie to a 15-9 lead in the first set, getting a Shanahan kill before she served five straight points with back-to-back service aces. The Broncos kept the cushion with kills from Dzieciuch,
Grace Flanagan and
Selin Aslayan during a later push, then finished the set 25-16 on a block by Dzieciuch and Hinshaw.
The Broncos led 19-18 late in the second set before Pacific (4-15, 0-7 WCC) scored five straight points to move ahead 23-19. Santa Clara answered with a Pacific service error and a Shanahan kill to get within 23-21, but Pacific took the final two points to win the set 25-21.
The Broncos broke open the third set with a 9-0 run from a 7-7 tie to a 16-7 lead, as
Ashlynn Reilly served the final eight points of the stretch. Shanahan had five kills during the run, and Santa Clara later closed the set on a four-point service run by Shanahan to finish a dominating 25-10 win.
Santa Clara answered Pacific's late push in the fourth set after ties at 23-23 and 24-24, with
Tia Kapihe putting the Broncos ahead before Hinshaw finished match point for a 26-24 win. Kapihe also recorded a season-high 14 digs. Earlier, Shanahan supplied three kills among the Broncos' first six points as Santa Clara moved in front, 6-3.
Vanessa Zussino had 12 kills, two service aces, five digs and three total blocks for Pacific. Isabella Gutierrez collected a team-high 17 digs and added three assists. Alessia Couchond had a double-double with 22 assists, 11 digs and two service aces. Adeline Sirbu added eight kills and a team-high four total blocks.
Santa Clara hosts East Bay rival Saint Mary's at 1 p.m. Saturday in a showdown of two of the WCC's top-four teams. Fans can purchase tickets and find all live coverage links on SantaClaraBroncos.com.
