Down 2-1 sets to one to rival Saint Mary's, the Broncos rallied to push the match to five sets on Saturday afternoon but despite having two set points, SCU couldn't hold on and lost in the fifth set 17-15. Set scores were 16-25, 25-17, 20-25, 25-15 and 15-17.
Santa Clara is 7-11 and 2-6 in WCC play and the Gaels are 11-6 and 7-2 in WCC play.
"Our seniors, especially Haley, Megan and Alyssa, played really tough today. They were really good," said Bronco head coach Jon Wallace. "We were up 10-5 in the fifth set and actually up 14-12 as well, but just couldn't score when we needed to to close out the match. It's a tough loss for us, but we had really good energy and we keep getting better every day in practice. Our freshmen are growing up fast out there right now and as a team we just have to keep working to get better. We also have to learn how to terminate and finish out a set and a match. I really proud of our effort today and also in practice this week."
Santa Clara hit .336 on the day with 64 kills. The Broncos collected 62 assists, five service aces, 60 digs and nine team blocks. Siant Mary's hit .346 with 72 kills. SMC collected 70 assists, seven service aces, 53 digs and six team blocks.
Megan Anders scored 16 kills, hitting .483 with five blocks. Sabrina Clayton had 14 kills, hitting .310 with three aces and three digs. Nikki Hess had 12 kills and nine digs. Haley Cameron scored 12 kills, hitting .579. Taylor Milton had eight kills and 13 digs. Alyssa Anderson collected 53 assists and 15 digs. Mary Shepherd had three assists and 11 digs.
Kristina Graven led all hitters with 30 kills, hitting .441 with eight digs. Jordan Shaw had 22 kills and 14 digs. Dalas Dodd had 65 assists and four digs. Sarah Reams had 15 digs.
