SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The Santa Clara University women's volleyball team wrapped up its own Santa Clara Mission Classic Sunday with a tight four-set battle versus East Bay foe California, as the Golden Bears earned a hard-fought 3-1 (24-26, 25-19, 28-26, 25-12) non-conference victory at Leavey Center.
Santa Clara's
Morgan Hayes was only one kill shy of tying her career high with 26 Sunday. She hit .346 on the night and added 13 digs for her second double-double in as many days.
Cate Shanahan also had a double-double for the second straight day with 15 kills and 10 digs.
Macy Hinshaw gave  tallied 45 assists and collected 14 digs to give the Broncos (3-7) three double-doubles in back-to-back matches.
Santa Clara closed the first set with four consecutive points, using a Shanahan kill and three straight Hayes kills to turn a 24-22 California lead into a 26-24 set win and an early 1-0 advantage in the match. Earlier,
Grace Flanagan served Santa Clara through a move from 3-3 to 7-3, a stretch that included back-to-back Hayes kills and a Flanagan ace.
Santa Clara spent the second set trying to recover after California (7-1) moved ahead 8-2 and later 12-4. Hayes supplied much of the response with eight kills, including back-to-back Broncos points that brought the score to 13-7. The Broncos reached 24-19 on a California error and a Shanahan kill before Grace Agolli closed the set for Golden Bears, 25-19.
The Broncos erased an 8-5 deficit in the third set, using a Hayes kill, an
Ashlynn Reilly ace, and three Shanahan kills to move in front 10-9. The Broncos answered another late California push by tying the set at 22-22 and going ahead 24-23 on a Hayes kill. Santa Clara extended the set with kills from
Allison Dzieciuch and Hayes, but the Golden Bears scored the final three points to take the set 28-26.
California made sure to create distance between it and the Broncos in set four, turning a 6-3 set lead into 13-3 with seven consecutive points, including three Santa Clara attack errors against Cal blocks. The Broncos' clearest late response came at 22-7, when they scored four consecutive points highlighted by a
Kaia Grieve-Dzieciuch block and a Hayes kill -- her 26th of the night. The Bears had five blocks in the fourth set alone and 11 total on the night, eventually winning the fourth frame, 25-12, to clinch the match.
Agolli led California with 14 kills, adding seven digs and three block assists. Cari Bohm recorded 10 kills on 17 attacks without an error and totaled nine blocks. Anna Flores finished with 45 assists, 10 digs, four block assists, and one ace. Abby Zimmerman added 10 kills, 13 digs, three aces, and two block assists.
Santa Clara closes out non-conference play with its final tournament next week at Cal Poly's SLO Classic in San Luis Obispo, Calif. There, it'll face two 2025 NCAA Tournament teams in the host Mustangs on Thursday and No. 4-ranked Stanford. Fans can find all live coverage links on SantaClaraBroncos.com.
