In a close battle all night, San Francisco topped Santa Clara Friday night on the Hilltop 3-1. Set scores were 22-25, 19-25, 25-22 and 17-25. Santa Clara is 7-12 and 2-8 in the WCC. USF is 10-10 and 6-4 in the WCC.
SCU hit .172 with 58 kills (31 e, 157 att.). The Broncos collected 47 assists, four aces, eight service errors, 47 digs and 6.5 team blocks. USF hit .298 with 53 kills (14 e, 131 att.). The Dons scored 53 assists, three aces, seven service errors, 50 digs and 13 team blocks.
Sabrina Clayton had 14 kills, Megan Anders and Haley Cameron both collected 12 and Taylor Milton scored 11 kills. Milton also added 13 digs. Alyssa Anderson had 52 assists and 10 digs. Mary Shepherd had 12 digs and two aces.
Malina Terrell had 17 kills, hitting .424. Anja Segota had 13 kills. Valentina Zaloznik had nine blocks and nine kills. Rebecca Kopilovitch scored 20 digs. Jurja Vlasic collected 16 assists and three digs.
USF started the first set on a 3-1 run before the Broncos tied it up at 3, 5 and 6. The two teams traded pairs of errors as USF went up 9-7. An error by Cameron put USF up 12-8. A kill by Hess and another by Clayton pulled the Broncos within two, 13-11 USF. USF went on a 5-2 run before a kill by Clayton and an error by Inbar Vinarsky made it 18-15 USF. The two teams kept battling back and forth with a kill by Hess making it 22-20 USF. A Cameron kill made it 23-21 USF. After SCU whistled for time, Anders stepped up with a big kill in the middle but Terrell answered with a kill to win the first set 25-22.
Kills by Anders, Milton and Hess and an error by De Vries helped the Broncos to a 4-1 lead to start the second set. After USF scored, Anderson dumped the ball for the sideout, 5-2 Broncos. Kills by Hess, Milton and back-to-back kills by Clayton helped the Broncos zoom ahead 10-4. Timeout USF. During the timeout, Santa Clara was whistled for a rotation error and score was changed to 9-5 SCU. USF went on a 4-1 run to tie it up 10-10. Timeout Santa Clara. The two teams tied it up at 11, 12 and 13 before a couple Cameron hitting errors and a USF ace made it 16-13. A De Vries hitting error stopped the run, but a kill by Terrell started another as USF went ahead 21-14 on a kill by Terrell. The Broncos rallied to score four of the next five points and made it 22-18 USF on a kill by Milton. USF scored three of the next four points to finish the set off 25-19.
The two teams continued to battle in the third set with eight ties in the early going. The Broncos took a two-point lead, 13-11, on kills by Clayton and Anders. A kill by Anja Segota was then matched by one by Milton to put the Broncos up 14-12. A kill by Cameron and an error by Terrell after a Dons timeout made it 16-12 SCU. A kill by Cameron and an ace by Hess pushed the score to 19-14 SCU. USF scored three of the next four points to make it 20-17 SCU. Two kills by Clayton with a USF team block sandwiched between and SCU led 22-18. After a Bronco service error Milton got the Broncos a sideout with a kill, 23-19 SCU. Timeout USF. Katarina Pilepic and Terrell scored kills out of the timeout. SCU called for time, up 23-21. The Broncos scored two of the next three kills, by Milton and Hess, to win set three 25-22.
USF cruised out to a 5-1 lead to open the fourth set. A couple USF errors and another kill by Cameron made it 6-5 USF. The Dons scored seven of the next nine points to take a 13-7 lead. A kill by Anders and a team block by Anders and Milton halted the Dons scoring run, 13-9 USF. The Dons rallied again to score five of the next seven to make it 18-11. Timeout Broncos. The teams traded points twice and then Chloe Sliger was whistled for a bad set, 21-13 USF. A kill by Clayton again helped the Broncos sideout. Anders scored three of the next five points, but it wasn't enough as Katarina Pilepic finished off the set with a kill and USF won set four 25-17.
