Led by senior Taylor Milton, who had 17 kills, hitting .484 with five aces, Santa Clara took care of San Francisco 3-0 in the Leavey Center on Thursday night. Set scores were 25-18, 25-22 and 26-24. Santa Clara is 21-9 and 11-6 in the WCC. USF is 12-17 and 5-12 in the WCC.
"Taylor Milton set the tone for us. Her aggressive net play followed up by her great serving. She really got our team going in the right direction," said Bronco head coach Jon Wallace. "This is a really good win for us after we lost at USF six weeks ago. Our team was really looking forward to this match. More importantly we played our game and stayed focused which made our execution very high."
Santa Clara hit .349 with 48 kills (11 e, 106 att.). The Broncos collected 45 assists, six aces, 10 service errors, 43 digs and 10.5 team blocks.
Taylor Milton led the Broncos with 17 kills and hit .484 (2 e, 31 att.). She also added five service aces and nine digs. Nikki Hess hit .344 (3 e, 32 att.) with 14 kills and five digs. Sabrina Clayton and Natasha Calkins each added six kills. Kirsten Mead had 42 assists and eight digs. Danielle Rottman added a match-high 16 digs.
Katarina Pilepic scored nine kills for USF. Oluoma Okaro had eight kills. Kiara McKibben scored 22 assists and Kim Gutierrez collected 14 digs.
The Dons opened the first set 3-1. After trading four straight sideouts, USF scored three of the next five to go up 8-6 and then 10-7 on a kill by Zaloznik. A block solo by Hess seemed to spark the Broncos as Milton's kill tied the match 10-10, but then USF scored twice. Milton collected back-to-back kills off the block, Hess added another and Okaro hit it way out. Milton crushed it off the block for the third time in three tries. Coming out of the USF timeout, Segota scored off the Bronco block. Edwards laced two kills between two Milton aces as the Broncos marched ahead 19-13. Edwards crushed it in an empty back row for the sideout and then Clayton scored on the overpass to put SCU up 21-14. After the Dons whistled for their second timeout, Gaffney was called in the net. USF scored four of the next six, but Calkins scored in the middle as SCU won set two 25-18. SCU hit .364 with 15 kills (3 e, 33 att.). USF hit .226 with 11 kills (4 e, 31 att.). Milton had seven kills in the first set.
USF opened the second set 4-1. Two Milton aces and a couple of USF errors gave SCU a 6-5 lead. The teams traded sideouts to tie it up 8-8. USF scored three straight and SCU called for time. USF scored four of the next five out of the timeout and took a 16-12 lead. SCU put down three straight kills, and after a Pilepic kill, Milton and Edwards scored a team block. SCU scored two of the next three to get within one, 19-18 USF. Clayton's attempt went down the line for a kill in an empty back court, but Mead served the next ball out. Milton's attempt clipped the back line for a sideout and Hess scored off the block to tie it up 21-21. Timeout USF. Milton scored down the line and cross-court between a USF sideout as SCU moved ahead 23-22. A team block by Edwards and Milton gave SCU set point, but USF called for its second timeout. Zaloznik smacked it out to give SCU the second set 25-22. SCU hit .273 with 14 kills (5 e, 33 att.). USF hit .125 with 12 kills (8 e, 32 att.). Milton had seven kills again.
A kill by Milton and another by Hess put SCU up 5-3 in the third set. After Milton's kill bounced off the USF blocker's head USF called for time, down 11-6. A kill by Okaro brought the Dons within a couple, but SCU responded and Hess scored a kill and Milton her fifth ace, 17-12 SCU. USF and SCU continued to battle, with SCU taking a 20-15 lead on a kill by Calkins. USF scored five straight to tie it up 20-20. A kill by Milton in the back row stopped the rally. A USF team block and an ace made SCU call for time, down by one, 22-21. Hess collected a kill in the donut and Shepherd's ace got USF off the court for its timeout, down 23-22. Three blockers went up for SCU for the Bronco match point, but Okaro responded with back-to-back kills to tie it up at 24. Hess scored off the team block for the second match point. GiGi Cresto came off the bench to finish off the match with an ace, 26-24 SCU.
