MORAGA, Calif. — Santa Clara volleyball capped a Bay Area West Coast Conference weekend with a defeat against Saint Mary's Saturday afternoon. The Broncos kept the contest close and reached the 21-point mark in all three sets, but fell to the Gaels 25-21, 25-22, 25-22 at McKeon Pavilion. 

Sabrina Clayton topped the Broncos (12-10, 3-7 WCC) with a .375 hitting percentage and 12 kills. Three Broncos posted match-highs: Callie Jones had 20 assists, Taylor Laugero had 14 digs and Nikki Hess served up three aces. For the Gaels (10-11, 5-5 WCC), Alexis Salmons hit .765 with 13 kills. 

Each side came out strong offensively in the first set, as the Broncos hit .483 with only one attack error and the Gaels hit .433 with only three attack errors. Santa Clara set the pace early, and led 8-6 before a service error by Hess spurred a 12-4 run for Saint Mary's. Trailing 23-15, Santa Clara went on a 6-1 spree — including back-to-back kills from Hailey Lindberg — before the Gaels won the set on a service error.

Saint Mary's trailed 4-2 in the second set, then won seven of eight points to go ahead by four. The Broncos kept the set within four points the rest of the way and tied the count twice. Later in the frame, Madi Wilkerson came through with an ace to give the hosts a two-set lead at the break.

Santa Clara dominated the early action after the intermission by building up a 14-7 advantage in the third set, which featured three blocks in a nine-point span. Saint Mary's took eight of the next nine points to tie the stanza at 16-16 and stretched the run to 15-4 on its way to a sweep victory.

The Broncos return to the Leavey Center for matches against Portland on Thursday and Gonzaga on Saturday.