SANTA CLARA, Calif. – On the cusp of snapping its skid in front of a boisterous home crowd, Santa Clara volleyball was upended in five sets as Pacific rallied for a 25-22, 21-25, 20-25, 25-20, 15-13 victory in Tuesday's West Coast Conference match.
Nikki Hess had a match-best 22 kills and Jensen Cunningham added 14 for the Broncos (9-6, 0-3) who were making their first appearance of the season at Leavey Center on the new playing surface.
Emily Baptista (20 kills/12 digs) and Lexi Elman (12 kills/22 digs) each recorded double-doubles for the Tigers (9-6, 3-0) who remained perfect in league play and won for the sixth time in their last seven outings.
Pacific led 10-6 in the fifth set before the Broncos rallied to take a 12-11 lead on an attack error, but the Tigers scored four of the final five points. Lauren Cline's kill snapped a 13-all tie and Jessica Diederich served an ace on match point.
The Tigers had a .193 hitting percentage for the night, but .238 in the final set.
After the Broncos took a 2-1 lead in sets, the Tigers played a strong fourth. They erased a 3-1 deficit with seven straight points. The Broncos cut the advantage to 10-8 on an attack error, but Pacific's Ashlyn Fleming capped a 5-2 run to increase the lead to 18-12.
Santa Clara later took advantage of attack errors to knot the set at 20-all. However, Baptista followed with a kill and Diederich followed with her second ace of the match. Santa Clara called timeout, but couldn't stop the bleeding. Two attack errors by the Broncos and a kill from Cline sent the match to a fifth set.
The Broncos, who dropped their sixth-straight match, posted a .201 hitting percentage in the contest, but just .070 in the fourth set and .150 in the fifth. Santa Clara set a school record by winning its first nine matches this season. However, Kirsten Mead, a first-team All-WCC setter, has missed the last eight matches with an ankle injury.
Callie Jones matched a career high with 47 assists for the Broncos who are back in action Thursday when they travel to Gonzaga to continue WCC play.
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