EUGENE, Ore. — Santa Clara volleyball fell to Portland State in the finale of the season-opening Oregon Invitational Saturday. The Vikings defeated the Broncos 14-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-10 at Matthew Knight Arena.
Parker Webb (13 kills on .263 hitting), Makayla Lewis (11 kills on .300 hitting) and Zoe McBride (11 kills, tied Ellie Snook with a match-best four aces) led the way offensively for Portland State. The Vikings (1-1) got a 33-assist, 17-dig double-double from Ally Wada and Snook led all players with 30 digs. They hit .245 to Santa Clara's .210, were plus-10 on points decided on serve and won the block battle 11-2.
Julia Sangiacomo produced a match-high 19 kills for the Broncos (0-3) on .255 hitting. Sophia Tulino (13 kills, 11 digs) and Michelle Shaffer (11 kills, 14 digs) turned in double-double efforts. Kat Georgiadis had 26 digs to mark a new career-high for the second straight day. Nive Tuileta led all players with 41 assists.
The Broncos never trailed in the opening set and outhit the Vikings .432 to .119; Sangiacomo and Tulino racked up six kills apiece while Shaffer added four. Santa Clara built an 11-5 lead and doubled-up Portland State down the stretch with a 14-7 span to close the frame. Santa Clara strung together six separate streaks of three straight points or more.
The second set began with a back-and-forth battle that featured eight ties leading up to a 16-all scoreline. Portland State won four straight points and six of the next seven to take a 22-17 lead, and held at least a two-point edge on its way to tying up the match.
Santa Clara flipped a 17-14 deficit into a 20-18 lead late in the third set, sparked by two kills from Tulino. The Vikings called timeout and responded with a 6-0 run to get on set point at 24-20; Ashleigh Barto had two kills and a solo block during the stretch. Following a Sangiacomo kill to fight off one set point, Webb made it seven of eight points for the Vikings with a set-clinching kill.
Portland State won the first four points of the fourth set, including two kills and an ace from McBride in a three-point spree. Snook served up three aces in four points as part of a 7-0 stretch that put the Vikings up 16-6. Portland State hit .481 in the final frame and won 16 of the last 20 points to seal the match.
SHAFFER NAMED ALL-TOURNAMENT
Shaffer earned a spot on the all-tournament team for her performance over the three matches. She totaled 40 kills (3.64/set) and had at least 11 kills in all three contests.
QUOTABLE - HEAD COACH ERIN LINDSEY
"I was excited to see what our offense could do in the first set. Unfortunately, we were not able to sustain our passing and the serving pressure we found early also waned in the later sets. Kudos to Portland State for making adjustments on defense to put more pressure on us. We need to be better about responding to those adjustments more quickly in the match. We are looking forward to getting back to practice to continue to improve."
NEXT UP
Santa Clara is back on the road for the 2021 Aggie Invitational next week. The Broncos face Nevada on Friday at 5 p.m. and tournament host UC Davis on Saturday at 5 p.m.
NOTES
• Portland State now leads the all-time series 5-2. The teams last met in 2017, with Santa Clara winning 3-0 at the UC Davis Invitational in Davis, California.
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