Traveling to Los Angeles for its third straight West Coast Conference road match, Santa Clara fell 3-0 at LMU Thursday night.  Set scores were 21-25, 22-25 and 20-25.   Santa Clara finishes its fourth straight WCC road match with a 1 pm match on Saturday vs. No. 24 Pepperdine.

Santa Clara is 14-6 and 4-2 in West Coast Conference play.  LMU is 12-8 and 2-4 in the WCC.

"This is a disappointing loss, but LMU is a good team and served well. We need to learn that our conference is very good. We need to come and compete every night," said Bronco head coach Jon Wallace. "Megan played very well again and Kayla brought a lot of energy to the match. Taylor did some good things, but all together we couldn't get going. We will have a good practice tomorrow and regroup for a very good Pepperdine team on Saturday."

Santa Clara hit .194 with 36 kills (18 e, 93 att.).  The Broncos collected 35 assists, two service aces, six service errors, 39 digs and six team blocks.  LMU hit .248 with 41 kills (15 e, 105 att.).  The Lions collected 37 assists, eight service aces, 10 service errors, 31 digs and seven team blocks.

The Broncos were led by Megan Anders, who collected 12 kills, hitting .529 (2 e, 17 att.).  Kayla Lommori had 10 kills and hit .238.  Taylor Milton hit .400 with seven kills.  Alyssa Anderson had 22 assists and nine digs.  Chelsea Heier had 11 assists and six digs. Katy Schatzman had eight digs.  Katherine Douglas had seven digs and Lexi Williamson collected five kills.

The Lions were led by Litara Keil who had 10 kills, hitting .381.  Kathleen Luft had nine kills.  Betsi Metter had five aces and 12 digs.  Hannah Tedrow had 33 assists.

In the first set the two teams were tied three times before Santa Clara ran out to a 9-5 lead on a kill by Douglas.  The Broncos took a 14-9 lead on a kill by Milton, but the Lions scored four of the next five points to pull within two, 15-13 SCU.  Timeout Santa Clara.  Metter's ace after the timeout was followed by an error by her as well, 16-14 Broncos.  Three LMU kills, a block solo and errors by Lommori and Douglas and LMU went up by three 19-16.  Timeout Broncos with LMU scoring 10 of the last 12 points.  A service error by the Lions was followed by a kill by Anders, 19-18 LMU. LMU then whistled for time.   Back-to-back Lommori kills tied it up 20-20.  Trading points, the game was tied 21-21 when LMU scored a kill, a team block and two aces by Luft to win set one 25-21.  Santa Clara hit .200 with 12 kills (6 e, 30 att.).  LMU hit .300 with 12 kills (3 e, 30 att.).

The Lions jumped out to a quick 4-0 including the fourth ace of the match by Metter and a team block by DeWitt and Keil.  The Broncos pulled within two, 7-5 Lions, on a Luft error.  Down 11-6, the Broncos rallied for a couple on a Lommori kill and a team block by Cameron and Lommori, 11-8 LMU. After another Metter service ace, the Broncos collected two of the next three points to pull within four, including a team block by Anders and Lommori, 15-11 Lions.  A kill by Tedrow and an error by Anders was followed by a kill by Williamson, 17-12 Lions.  A service error by Heier and another kill by Luft and LMU raced ahead 19-12.  After a Santa Clara timeout, Keil served two straight aces to put LMU up 21-12.  Santa Clara scored six of the next seven points to pull within four, 22-18 Lions, including an ace by Williamson. Timeout Lions.  Kills by DeWitt and Arriola slowed the Bronco rally, 24-18 Lions.  The Broncos scored four times on an LMU error and kills by Anders, Lommori and Douglas.  The Broncos were down 24-22 when LMU whistled for time, but returned from its huddle with an Arriola kill to win the set, 25-22.  Santa Clara hit .241 with 12 kills (5 e, 29 att.).  LMU hit .205 with 14 kills (6 e, 39 att.).

Tied twice early, the Broncos took a 6-3 lead on an error by LMU.  LMU scored four of the next five points to tie it up 7-7.  Trading kills, Williamson tied it up 8-8 with one down the line.  Luft and Lommori traded kills before a Arriola kill and an LMU team block gave LMU an 11-9 lead.    Lommori scored her ninth kill and Luft smacked it out twice to put SCU up 12-11.  A Keil kill, two Bronco errors and a Luft kill put the Lions up three, 15-12.  After a Bronco timeout, Milton scored kills on two of the next three points, 16-14 Lions.  LMU scored three of the next four points to go up 19-15.  The Lions continued to score, putting up three of the next four to go up 21-16.  The Broncos rallied for a couple, but LMU proved to be too much and finished off the set with a 25-20 victory to seal the match.  SCU hit .147 with 12 kills (7 e, 34 att.).  LMU hit .250 with 15 kills (6 e, 36 att.).