LONG BEACH, Calif. — Santa Clara volleyball battled in one of its closest matches of the season and had its 2019 campaign come to an end on Thursday night. Tulsa defeated the Broncos 25-22, 25-22, 23-25, 25-22 in the second round of the NIVC at Walter Pyramid.

Callie Cook racked up 12 kills on 16 error-free swings to hit a match-best .750 for the Golden Hurricane (17-15), which hit .196 as a team. Tulsa's balanced attack featured eight players with multiple kills. Cook also turned in a match-best seven blocks to help her team win the block battle 13-8 and Taylor Horsfall led all players with 16 digs.

Julia Sangiacomo led Santa Clara with an 18-kill, 15-dig double-double and Santa Clara hit .179 as a team. Three other Broncos (21-12) posted double-digit kills: Allison Kantor (13), Taylor Odom (12 on .474 hitting) and Kathryn Decker (11 on .409 hitting).

Decker logged Santa Clara's second triple-double of the season, finishing with 22 assists and 11 digs along with her 11 kills. She took over setting duties after Michelle Shaffer suffered an injury on the fifth point of set three that kept her out of action for the rest of the night. The Broncos were already without setter Liliana Light, who sustained a season-ending injury during West Coast Conference play. Shaffer's 25 assists held up as a match-high.

The Broncos scored four straight points to take an 18-16 lead in the first set on two kills from Sangiacomo, followed by two Golden Hurricane attack errors. Tulsa responded with a 4-0 run to regain the lead at 21-19 on two Cook kills and two misfires by the Broncos. The Golden Hurricane held the lead the rest of the way and finished off the set with a block by Maggie Hembree and Maddie Rhoder.

Tulsa started the second set on a 5-1 stretch and the Broncos responded to tie the score at 19-all at 20-all. Cook and Hembree had kills on the next two points to put the Golden Hurricane up 22-20, and Dilara Gedikoglu finished the stanza with an ace.

Santa Clara built a 5-1 lead to start the third set in the stretch when Shaffer was injured. The Golden Hurricane used a 5-0 run to make the count 23-22 Santa Clara and the Broncos held their lead, then clinched the set on Odom's kill. Decker, setting for the first time as a collegian, had 10 kills in the frame after taking over the post.

The Golden Hurricane gained the upper hand midway through the fourth set. Cook generated two kills to bookend two Bronco attack errors for four straight points and a 19-15 lead. The Broncos pulled as close as two points down and the match ended on a Santa Clara service error.

NOTES

• Thursday marked the first meeting all-time between Santa Clara and Tulsa.

• Erin Lindsey's 21 victories are the second-most all-time for a Bronco head coach in a debut season, matching Jon Wallace's 21-win season in 1999. Annie Feller won 22 matches in her first season at the helm in 1993.

• Odom's 196 total blocks are the most in SCU single-season history and fourth all-time in the West Coast Conference.

QUOTABLE – HEAD COACH ERIN LINDSEY

Overall thoughts on the match: "We came out unfortunately flatter that we wanted to. We had too many errors in the first two sets and our offense wasn't connecting well initially. We had nine more errors than they did, and those were well-fought sets, but I thought our errors were the difference. Tulsa is a great defensive team; they dig a lot of balls and keep a lot of plays going."

On Decker stepping in as setter: "Kathryn did an awesome job stepping up and setting. That's a unique position that requires a lot of skill, information and know-how. She handled the situation really well and put up good, hittable balls for our attackers, which allowed them to remain aggressive."

On adjustments after Shaffer's injury: "When Michelle went down, it was tough since we didn't have a backup setter with Lili already being out. Since Kathryn was the opposite, the simple solution was to put in Michelle Gajdka for Michelle Shaffer. We practice playing high-ball volleyball a lot in our gym, so I told the team 'let's play like we're playing high-ball, get nice sets to the pins, take some big swings, keep serving and blocking and see what we can do.' Everyone stepped up and the passing got better."

On playing in the postseason: "This was a great opportunity we had to play in the postseason with a group that didn't win much last year. Coming down here, getting to compete and play a great, high-level match against Long Beach last night – that's great experience for our young players to be playing in December since we plan that for this program moving forward. The amount of fight, resilience and togetherness at the end defines this team's growth and everything we've been able to accomplish this season."