PROVO, Utah – McKenna Miller had seven kills and Heather Gneiting chipped in five for No. 9 BYU, which had a strong defensive effort in defeating Santa Clara volleyball 25-16, 25-12, 25-10 in a Saturday afternoon West Coast Conference matchup at Smith Fieldhouse.
The Cougars (16-2, 7-0) held the Broncos to a season-low -.095 attack percentage and posted 10.5 total blocks to win their 10th straight match.
BYU wasn't particularly efficient on offense overall, posting a .195 attack percentage, but Miller (.700) and Gneitling (.500) combined to hit .611 and the team had nine service aces, including four by Kate Grimmer.
Julia Sangiacomo had six kills and Taylor Odom added four for the Broncos (12-7, 2-4), who had a chance to grab the opening set until a late 7-0 run turned a two-point deficit into a 23-14 BYU lead.
Whitney Bower had 16 assists and seven digs for the Cougars. Mary Lake had 11 of the team's 37 digs. Michelle Shaffer and Liliana Light led the Broncos with nine assists apiece and Gretchen Reinert produced a team-best nine digs.
There were seven ties and four lead changes in the opening set, but the Cougars led from start to finish in the final two, building 9-1 leads at the outset of the second and third frames.
QUOTABLE - HEAD COACH ERIN LINDSEY
"That match was not what we wanted it to be today. We really thought we were prepared and we saw that in the first half of the first set; we executed our gameplan, competed hard and went back-and-forth with them. Ultimately, we didn't play good enough volleyball today to put pressure on a really good team. The team competed hard in two tough road matches this week. We're not quite there yet but I feel confident in our team's ability to improve as we move forward in WCC play."
UP NEXT
The Broncos are home for their next two matches, facing Gonzaga on Thursday (7 p.m.) and Portland on Saturday (noon).
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