EUGENE, Ore. — Santa Clara volleyball dropped its first two games of the season on Friday in opening-day action at the Oregon Invitational.

The Broncos (0-2) fell to San José State 25-19, 26-24, 22-25, 26-24 before being upended by 14th-ranked Oregon 25-17, 25-18, 25-14.

SCU finishes up the two-day event Saturday against Portland State for an 11 a.m. first serve.

MATCH 1: SAN JOSE STATE 3, SANTA CLARA 1 (25-19, 26-24, 22-25, 26-24) 

San José State's Latahevai Lousi led all players with 19 kills and Haylee Nelson added 15 on .312 hitting to go with 15 digs for a double-double. The Spartans (0-1) also got match-best efforts of 48 assists and four aces from Mia Schafer as well as 21 digs from Sarah Smevog. 

Sophia Tulino led the Broncos (0-1) with 16 kills and had 10 digs for a double-double. Nive Tuileta made the start at setter in her first collegiate match and posted 41 assists, 11 digs and four blocks. Julia Sangiacomo and Michelle Shaffer each had 14 kills. Alex Anthony had a match-high five blocks and Kat Georgiadis topped the Broncos with 17 digs.

"I thought we really played well at times," Santa Clara head coach Erin Lindsey said. "We were really able to work on and show our system, especially on the offensive side of the ball that we've been working on this preseason. But credit to San Jose State. They really did do a nice job especially on floor defense, digging a lot of our attacks. But ultimately we didn't play with quite enough urgency to secure the win."

The Broncos outhit the Spartans .267 to .257 and outblocked them 8-3. San José State was +10 on points decided on serve.

In the first set, Lousi hit .412 with nine kills and San José State hit .333 as a team. Lousi broke a 14-all tie with a kill to start a stretch of six kills in 13 points. The Spartans were in front the rest of the way en route to a 1-0 match lead. 

The Broncos used a 7-1 run to build a 17-14 lead in the second set; Tulino had two kills to go with a solo block and Shaffer added four kills in that span. They led as late as 23-21 before the Spartans won three straight points and five of next six to capture the frame. 

Sangiacomo had three kills in a 6-2 run that gave the Broncos a 16-9 lead midway through the third set. The Spartans fought of three set points and cut the deficit to two at 24-22 SCU before Sangiacomo delivered one of her seven kills for the stanza to get the Broncos on the board. 

In the fourth, the Broncos trailed 16-13 and won 10 of the next 14 points to go in front 23-20. They had two set points with a 24-22 advantage prior to San José State taking four straight points to seal the match, including Nelson's kill to end the final rally. 

MATCH 2: NO. 14 OREGON 3, SANTA CLARA 0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-14)

Brooke Nuneviller and Abby Hansen each had eight kills, and Karson Bacon chipped in seven to lead a balanced attack for the Ducks who posted a .370 hitting percentage.

Michelle Shaffer had 15 kills and Sophia Tulino seven to lead the offensive effort for the Broncos who were held to a .083 attack percentage.

Santa Clara had opportunities to claim either of the first two sets before the Ducks pulled away in the third.

"I think we really went at them," Santa Clara head coach Erin Lindsey said. "That's a really good team with Elite Eight experience and playing at home. I think they are legitimately a top 10 team. They pass really well, they put up a big block. Our hitters had a lot to deal with and so did our blockers."

The opening set was tied eight times and the Broncos led 12-11 on a kill from Shaffer and were then within 16-15, but the Ducks scored the next seven points, taking advantage of three errors and getting a pair of aces from Becca Morse.

Oregon, which had only six attack errors in the match, led by as many as seven early in the second set before the Broncos rallied as a 4-0 run cut the deficit to 14-11. A set error pulled Santa Clara within 19-17 but the Ducks reeled off the next five points.

The Ducks showed off their offensive efficiency in the final set, posting a blistering .481 attack percentage. They slowly pulled away and put the set away with a 4-0 run that pushed the lead to 22-12 and featured three straight kills from Hansen, Morgan Lewis and Nuneviller, who had a perfect 1.000 hitting percentage in the match.

"I was really proud of the group but we didn't have quite enough to turn it into a win tonight," Lindsey said.

NOTES

• San José State now leads the all-time series 25-15. The teams last met in 2019 with Santa Clara winning 3-1 at home.
• Oregon has a 10-4 edge in the series. The last meeting occurred in 2014 with the Ducks winning 3-0 at home in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
• Three of the 10 players who saw action on the day made their first appearance in a Santa Clara uniform. Anna Stucchi and Nive Tuileta are freshmen, and Grace Wee is a transfer from BYU.

QUOTABLE

"We have a lot of young talent. We're getting to know each other and really connecting all the pieces of our system so that we can improve. But there were definitely moments where it was clear how good this team can be so I'm looking forward to the opportunity to test that again tomorrow and continue to have other teams expose us so we can continue to get better at different parts of our game and challenge our system so we can put ourselves in position to win matches. I'm really excited about how we came out and turned it around after the match this morning."

- Head coach Erin Lindsey

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