SANTA CLARA, Calif. — It was a tighter battle this time around on Saturday between the Santa Clara University volleyball team and No. 18 BYU, but the nationally ranked Cougars still managed to come away with a sweep, beating the Broncos, 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-17), in a West Coast Conference match at Leavey Center.

Santa Clara (8-18, 4-10 WCC) held multiple leads in the first set and still led as deep as 12-11. The Cougars (18-5, 11-2 WCC) turned up the heat and went on a tear, closing the set on a 14-3 run to win, 25-15. 11 of those 14 points in the run came on kills – four from Erin Livingston and three from Heather Gneiting, as well as four more from three other players. Two more came on service aces, both in the final three points of the set.

Santa Clara took another lead in the second set at 6-5, and was still within one point at 13-12. But again, BYU took off on a 12-5 run to close the set and win, 25-17. This time the Cougars' defense helped out with three blocks and two other Santa Clara errors. The first set was nearly the same, with the Broncos tying it early at 6-6 before the Cougars pulled away. A 6-0 run made it 12-6, and later a 9-3 run put BYU on the verge of a sweep at 24-14. Santa Clara fought off three consecutive match points before finally falling, 25-17.

Julia Sangiacomo and Layla Truitt each had a team-high seven kills. Lia Okammor and Hayden Goodman had five kills each. Nive Tuileta collected 24 assists and nearly had a double-double with eight digs.

Livingston led all players with 17 kills while hitting .342. Three other Cougars had seven kills each, all hitting over .300. BYU hit .316 as a team while holding the Broncos to .154 hitting.

Santa Clara next travels to the Pacific Northwest to face Gonzaga on Thursday and Portland on Saturday. Fans can find all live coverage links on the Broncos' schedule page.

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