Behind the 18 kills of Nikki Hess, Santa Clara defeated No. 11 BYU 3-0 on Thursday night for its third straight win at home vs. the Cougars. Set scores were 25-14, 25-21 and 25-15. The Broncos move to 17-7 and 7-4 in the WCC and No. 11 BYU is 18-4 and 9-2 in the WCC.
It is the Broncos fourth win over a top 25 this season. Santa Clara hosts No. 30 San Diego on Sat., Nov. 1 at 1 pm at the Leavey Center.
Bronco head coach Jon Wallace called the win a 'total team victory.' "We have been extremely focused all week. We know what kind of teams BYU and San Diego are and our preparation was the best it's been all year. Everyone came up really big tonight and I loved our energy all night long."
The Broncos hit .320 with 46 kills (15 e, 97 att.). They collected 45 assists, 12 aces, four service errors, 46 digs and six team blocks.
Hess hit .300 with her 18 kills (6 e, 40 att), adding seven digs. Sabrina Clayton hit .381 with 11 kills (3 e, 21 att.), adding four aces and five digs. "The performances of Nikki and Sabrina in the front row against the best the blocking team in the nation was extremely impressive," added Wallace.
Kirsten Mead had 40 assists, two aces and four digs. Taylor Milton added eight kills, two aces, five digs and three block assists. Danielle Rottman added 23 digs and two aces.
"Just as impressive as our front row attack were Dani's 23 digs in three sets – that's a big number for us," said Wallace.
The Cougars hit .172 with 28 kills (13 e, 87 att.). They collected 24 assists, two aces, three service errors, 29 digs and five team blocks. BYU came in as the nation's top blocking team, averaging almost four team blocks a game.
BYU had no hitters with double digit kills. They were led by Jennifer Hamson's six kills and four block assists, but she hit only .091 (4 e, 22 att.). Alexa Gray scored seven kills, hitting .200 (3 e, 20 att). Alohi Robins-Hardy had 10 assists and starter Camry Willardson added nine. Clara Parker had a team-high eight digs.
The Broncos started the match on a 4-0 roll. Mead started it with an ace and then Young smacked it long. Hess crushed it on a back row attack and then Milton scored off the block. After BYU collected a sideout, Clayton scored off the team block and then scored the Broncos' second ace. After Tambre Nobles smacked it out, BYU called for time, down 7-1. BYU rallied to score two, but Hess scored down the line for a sideout, 9-3 SCU. BYU scored three before Amy Boswell was called in the net. Hess went way up for a point and Milton served the third ace, 12-6 SCU. BYU scored five of the next seven to make it 15-11 SCU. After SCU scored three of the next four to advance to 18-12, BYU called for time.
SCU scored five of the next six out of the timeout. Hamson stopped the Bronco rally momentarily, but a cross court kill by Milton gave SCU set point, 24-14. Kaity Edwards kill bounced off Gray's head to give the Broncos set one, 25-14. The Broncos hit .433 with 15 kills in the first set (2 e, 30 att.). The Cougars hit .100 with 10 kills (7 e, 30 att.). Hess had eight kills and Hamson had four.
The Broncos opened the second set on a 5-0 run, including an ace by Clayton. BYU scored three straight out of its timeout, but SCU came back to score three more including a team block by Edwards and Hess and another Bronco ace, this one by Rottman, 8-3 SCU. Hess collected back-to-back kills and after a Cougar team block, Edwards scored down the line for a sideout, 11-5 SCU. Hess scored her 13th kill and SCU marched ahead 16-9 when Shawn Olmstead whistled for the Cougars' second timeout.
SCU scored three of the next five out of the timeout, 19-12 SCU. BYU scored six straight and SCU called twice for time during the run, leading 19-18. SCU scored two of the next three to move ahead. BYU scored two of the next three, but Clayton crushed it down the line to put SCU up 23-21. Hess crushed it off the outstretched arms for set point and a team block by Milton and Natasha Calkins on a Hamson attempt gave SCU the second set, 25-21. SCU hit .268 with 18 kills (7 e, 41 att.). BYU hit .250 with 10 kills (2 e, 32 att.).
The Broncos opened the third set with an ace by Mead, the team's eighth of the night. The teams were tied three times and then Rottman scored another ace. Milton scored and then Edwards and Hess blocked the ball, 6-3 SCU. BYU scored a couple times before Hamson served it into the net and Hess scored her 17th kill, 8-5 SCU. Milton served up a blistering ace with no Cougar around in the back row, 9-5 SCU. Timeout Cougars.
The team's traded sideouts and Gray smacked it way out, 11-6 SCU. Milton scored a kill for a sideout, but BYU answered with a couple before Calkins crushed it in the middle, 14-9. BYU scored three of the next five. Calkins got the sideout with a kill in the middle and Clayton added her 11th kill before BYU called for time, trailing 18-12. BYU scored three of the next four out of the timeout. The Broncos scored seven of the next 10 quickly to finish off set three and the match, 25-15, on a kill by Edwards in the middle. SCU hit .269 with 13 kills (6 e, 26 att.). BYU hit .160 with 8 kills (4 e, 25 att.).
"Great team win," added Wallace with a smile at the end. "This is what we expect and we hope we are on the path to these type of matches more in the near future."
