SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The Santa Clara University volleyball team started its Saturday unfazed while facing its first of three consecutive nationally ranked opponents, but No. 20 Pepperdine adjusted and came from behind to beat the Broncos in four sets, 3-1 (19-25, 25-21, 25-14, 25-14), in a West Coast Conference match at Leavey Center.
The Broncos (6-10, 2-2 WCC) used a 7-2 run early in the first set to take the lead and never look back on their way to a 25-19 win and a 1-0 match lead. They carried that momentum into the second, jumping ahead 3-0 and staying within two points of the 20th-ranked Waves (12-4, 2-2 WCC) for the next 31 points. Pepperdine used a 5-1 run to go up 19-16 and powered on from there to even the match with a 25-21 set victory.
Then the Waves turned it on. They hit .346 and .353, respectively, in sets three and four after hitting below .200 in both of the first two sets. Pepperdine's serve and block game came alive, too. They totaled service aces in the second and third sets after having none in the opening frame. They doubled their blocks total with six in sets No. 3 and 4 after only having three in the first two sets.
Julia Sangiacomo's match-high 15 kills Saturday put her over the 250 kills mark for the season and the 1,300 kills mark for her career. She's now in eighth place all-time in the Santa Clara record book with 1,304 kills. She's the eighth player ever in Santa Clara program history to reach 1,300 career kills. She was only one dig short of a double-double with nine digs.
Oren Abutbul was one kill short of matching her season high, tallying 13 Saturday. She also had four digs and two blocks. Nive Tuileta turned in her fifth double-double of the season with 37 assists and a season-high 14 digs. Lia Okammor added four blocks.
Grace Chillingworth led Pepperdine with 14 kills while hitting .407. Five other Waves had at least five kills each, with Vanessa Polk (.583) and Avery Shimaitis (.556) both hitting over .550.
The Broncos next go on the road to nationally ranked BYU and San Diego on Thursday and Saturday, respectively. Fans can find all live coverage links on the volleyball schedule page.
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