PROVO, Utah — Santa Clara volleyball battled in the opener of a two-match stint at West Coast Conference-leading BYU on Tuesday. The No. 14 Cougars defeated the Broncos 25-18, 25-20, 25-11 at Smith Fieldhouse. 

Whitney Bower set BYU to a .346 hitting percentage as the team won its eighth-straight match. Erin Livingston led the Cougars (15-1, 14-1 WCC) with 10 kills, Taylen Ballard-Nixon hit .467 with eight kills and Kate Grimmer hit .500 with eight kills. 

Julia Sangiacomo produced a match-best 15 kills and Sophia Tulino added 11 for the Broncos (5-10, 5-10). Michelle Shaffer led all players with 30 assists and Gretchen Reinert tied BYU's Madi Allen with a match-high 10 kills. Santa Clara hit .132 and committed 23 attacking errors on 91 attempts. 

BYU came through with strong stretches of play to pull away late in the first two sets.

In the first set, the Broncos used a 6-1 spree to tie the score at 12-all. Tulino posted two kills and Nani Spaar added a kill and a block during that stretch. The set stayed within two points as late at 19-17 BYU before the Cougars won five points in a row and six of seven overall to take the early match lead. Livingston produced four kills in those seven points, including the set-clincher.

The second set featured a similar pattern as the first. BYU led 11-5 before Santa Clara won seven of the next eight points to pull even at 12-all. Tulino had three kills and Alex Anthony chipped in two blocks and a kill during the Bronco rally. Santa Clara was within two as late as 20-18 BYU before the Cougars won five of the last seven points.

BYU hit .550 in the third set, with 12 kills and only one error on 20 swings. The Cougars won the first six points with Bower on serve, including two aces by the setter. Santa Clara responded by winning the next three points and BYU answered that run to take a 9-3 lead, then led by at least five the rest of the way.

Santa Clara and BYU meet again Smith Fieldhouse on Wednesday for a noon PDT first serve. The match will air on BYUtv.

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