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SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Fresh off a sweep of Saint Mary's two nights ago in Moraga, Santa Clara volleyball continues its stretch of three matches in five days when it hosts Portland Thursday night in the Leaey Center. The Broncos have won eight of their last 10 matches, including five sweeps and three four-set victories.

Following a tightly-contested first set, Santa Clara won the final six points of sets two and three as part of a 26-24, 25-10, 25-19 sweep of the Gaels Tuesday night at McKeon Pavilion. The Broncos picked up their second West Coast Conference win in their first WCC road match of the season. Kirsten Mead had a match-high 41 assists — the Bronco sophomore has averaged 11.67 k/s and has notched at least 41 assists in each her last four matches. Sabrina Clayton led all players with 14 kills and four aces.

SANTA CLARA (11-4, 2-1 WCC) vs. Portland (11-3, 1-1 WCC)

Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015 • 6 p.m. PDT

Game #15 • Home Game #6 • Santa Clara, Calif.

Live Stats: www.santaclara.statbroadcast.com

Video: TheW.tv

Series: Santa Clara leads 51-8

Last Season: Oct. 9, 2014 in Santa Clara— Santa Clara won 3-1

Nov. 8, 2014 in Portland — Santa Clara won 3-0

THE BRONCOS

In its first West Coast Conference match of the 2015 season, Santa Clara fell to San Diego 25-13, 18-25, 20-25, 17-25 Thursday night. The Broncos hit .583 in the opening set, the most decisive of the evening, and the Toreros rallied to take three straight sets en route to winning the match.

The Broncos snapped BYU's nine-match winning streak as part of the 15-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-20 victory over the 10th-ranked Cougars Saturday. The win marked the first time in 16 tries that Santa Clara defeated an opponent ranked in the Top 10. The Broncos recorded wins over No. 5 Stanford and No. 5 Arizona as part of their NCAA Tournament Final Four season in 2005. Their last Top 10 win in the regular season came against No. 10 Arizona on Sept. 4, 2003.

Entering the week, Santa Clara is the only team in the WCC that has at least one player ranked in the conference's top three for all five major statistical categories (per set):

Aces — Sabrina Clayton 0.53/s (1^st)

Kills — Nikki Hess 4.35/s (3^rd)

Assists — Kirsten Mead 11.02/s (3^rd)

Digs — Danielle Rottman 4.83/s (1^st)

Blocks — Jensen Cunningham 1.31/s (2^nd)

The next closest team is BYU, who has players ranked in the top three of three major statistical categories.

PORTLAND

Portland went on a 10-match winning streak in non-conference play in which the Pilots lost only six sets. They began WCC action with a sweep of Saint Mary's Thursday at home, followed by a 3-1 loss to No. 23 Pacific Saturday. The Pilots lead the WCC with 14.92 d/s. Brent Crouch is in his second season as head coach of Portland.

UP Category Leaders in the WCC's Top 10

Hitting Percentage — Brittney Markwith .350 (4^th)

Kills — Emily Liger 4.14/s (4^th)

Assists — Djurdjina Milovic 10.76/s (4^th)

Blocks — Markwith 1.08/s (t-9^th)

Digs — Hannah Troutman 3.64/s (8^th)

GO BRONCOS!