Caoili Continues Hot Streak, Volleyball Falls at No. 1 BYU Thursday Night

Kamrin Caoili led all players with 15 kills and hit .423 on Thursday night.
Kamrin Caoili led all players with 15 kills and hit .423 on Thursday night.

PROVO, Utah — Santa Clara volleyball battled top-ranked BYU close for a set on the road, but the Cougars held on to win the first stanza and went on to sweep Thursday's West Coast Conference match. BYU defeated the Broncos 28-26, 25-17, 25-11 at Smith Fieldhouse to remain perfect on the season.

Kamrin Caoili kept her hot streak going for the Broncos (6-21, 1-14 WCC) by leading all players with 15 kills on .423 hitting. Caoili is hitting .366 with 45 kills over 12 sets (3.75 kills/set) in Santa Clara's last three matches. Chloe Loreen tied for a match-high 18 kills (BYU's Mary Lake) and Liliana Light led the Broncos with 26 assists.

Heather Gneiting paced the BYU offense by hitting .500 with 11 kills while adding a match-best six blocks. She helped the Cougars (24-0, 14-0) outhit the Broncos .248 to .080 and outblock the visiting side 9.5 to 6.0. Lyndie Haddock-Eppich topped all players by racking up 33 assists.

The Broncos held one of the country's top attackers, Roni Jones-Perry, to nine kills on .138 hitting. Jones-Perry had 10-plus kills in 20 of her last 21 matches entering Thursday's tilt and her attack percentage on Thursday marked the lowest since the team's second match of the season, a 3-1 win at Duke on Aug. 25.

Trailing 16-9 in the first set, Santa Clara scored four straight points and extended that rally into an 11-4 run that tied the match at 20. Caoili posted three of her seven first-set kills during that spree. The Broncos fought off four BYU set points before Gneiting came through with a kill to put the Cougars on set point at 27-26; Santa Clara's Michelle Shaffer misfired long on the next point to give BYU the first set.

BYU rolled its first-set momentum into the second frame, taking seven of the first nine points and leading by at least four en route to a two-set lead. The Cougars again grabbed an early lead in the third set and capped the match with a 17-6 run.

NEXT UP

Santa Clara continues the toughest road trip in the WCC on Saturday at San Diego with a noon first serve. The Toreros (14-10, 11-3) defeated San Francisco in four sets on Thursday night.

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