Santa Clara, Calif. - On a night in which the Tigers could not get their offense running, Pacific came up on the wrong end of a 3-0 contest as they fall to Santa Clara on the road on Tuesday, Sept. 30. The loss snapped a 10-match winning streak for the Tigers as they fell to 13-3 on the year and 2-1 in the WCC while the Broncos improved to 11-4 overall and 1-1 in conference play.

Set scores for the match were: 25-22, 25-21, 25-20.

In a rare midweek Tuesday match for the Tigers and the Broncos, neither team proved to be particularly sharp on the floor throughout the match, but it was Santa Clara that found a way to edge out Pacific en route to the win on its home court. From the outset of the match, the Tigers never looked comfortable at the Leavey Center as an array of forced and unforced mistakes proved to be the difference in the match.

Entering the match relying on their offense to win them points, the Broncos changed the game on the Tigers in the opening set by using a strong defensive effort to frustrate Pacific's attack. Facing the block of the Broncos, the Tigers were limited to just .154 hitting in the opening set as Santa Clara was able to post 3.0 total blocks while deflecting nearly every Pacific attack. The bulk of the damage against the Tigers came on 5-0 run by the Broncos midway through the set that put Pacific in a seven point hole at 15-8. During the run, the Tigers made three different hitting errors with only one coming off of a block. In the set, sophomore Lexi Elman was the only Tiger to find daylight on the offensive end as she buried six kills on nine attacks. However, it would not be enough as Santa Clara's Taylor Milton matched her nearly swing-for-swing to keep the Broncos ahead.

A set later, the road only became rockier for the Tigers as they could not get out of their own way en route to their worst hitting performance of the season going for 10 kills and 10 errors on 43 swings. Just like the opening set, the Broncos were able to get their hands on almost every ball the Tigers tried to put down as they threw up seven blocks in the set to overcome just .122 hitting of their own. 

With their backs against the wall, the Tigers responded with their best hitting performance of the night in the third set of action as they spread the ball around to keep it away from the Bronco block. However, it would prove to be too little too late as Santa Clara found its own offensive footing in the third set behind the attack of Sabrina Clayton who tallied seven kills on 14 swings to put the Tigers away.

Overall, the Tigers hit just .130 (37-21-123), their lowest attacking percentage in a match in 2014. Elman was the lone Tiger to reach double figures in kills as she posted a match-best 15 kills on 41 swings. She also added 10 digs to post her sixth double-double of the season. For the Broncos, Clayton ended her night with a team-best 12 kills while Milton added 10 and Nikki Hess finished with 10 as well. They ended the night with 12.0 team blocks as Natasha Calkins tallied five while Clayton and Kaity Edwards each tallied four for the night.

The Tigers will look to rebound from their first loss in nearly a month on Saturday, October 4 when they begin the new month with a match against rival Saint Mary's at the Spanos Center. The match is scheduled for 12:00 pm.