SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara volleyball combined solid defense and a strong offensive attack to post a convincing sweep of San Francisco Friday in a West Coast Conference match between longtime rivals.
Senior Madison Dutra (eight) and freshman Ngozi Nwabuzoh (seven) each tallied career highs in kills for the Broncos (14-11, 5-8) who posted a .333 hitting percentage in the match, which they won 25-17, 25-16, 25-18 in Leavey Center.
Emily Reed and Tyna Adamcikova each registered eight kills for the Dons (4-22, 0-13) who lost for the second time this season and fifth in a row overall to the Broncos.
The Broncos, playing without senior Nikki Hess who ranks fifth in the league in kills per set (4.02), matched their season high with 11 service aces and were only threatened in the final set.
The Dons led 9-8 on a service ace from Adamcikova, but the Broncos slowly took control. Three attack errors around a kill by Sabrina Clayton, who had seven in the match, built the Santa Clara lead to 17-12. A kill from Reed cut the deficit to 21-18, but the Broncos reeled off four straight points to secure their second-straight victory.
After the opening set was tied 3-all, the Broncos scored the next six points and never looked back. They posted a .333 hitting percentage and had four aces.
Santa Clara never trailed in the second set and led by as many as nine points.
VIDEO | @SCUVolleyball's Wallace/Shepherd postmatch, plus highlights from the sweep of USF! https://t.co/xmKrqzR4Og #StampedeTogether pic.twitter.com/L6F5T5jiBl
— Santa Clara Broncos (@SCUBroncos) November 5, 2016
Jensen Cunningham and Hailey Lindberg each had six kills and Kirsten Mead posted a match-high 31 assists for the Broncos who held the Dons to a .153 hitting percentage.
Hess missed just the second match of her career, which occurred in the 2014 season. She sat out against Lafayette on Aug. 30 of that year.
The Broncos make a road swing through Southern California next week, facing Pepperdine Thursday and Loyola Marymount on Saturday, Nov. 12.
Notes: Madison Dutra had a season-best .538 hitting percentage … Jensen Cunningham (.417) had her second-best hitting percentage in conference matches (.542 vs. Pepperdine, Oct. 15) and Hailey Lindberg had her third-best mark (.556 at Pacific, Oct. 20; .467 at USF, Oct. 7) … the Broncos posted their second sweep in WCC play, both occurring against USF.
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