Box Score Stockton, Calif. – The Pacific Tigers swept the Santa Clara Broncos in straight sets 25-15, 25-23, 25-21 for their third straight home victory. The Tigers forced 24 errors in the match while committing just 13 errors.
The win puts Pacific at 12-9 overall and 6-3 in conference with ten games to go in the season. Santa Clara falls to 12-9 overall and 3-6 in the WCC.
Lexi Elman led the Tigers with 11 kills on the night, while both Andie Shelton and Jessica Diederich recorded double-digit assists with 12 and 17, respectively. Elman and Shelton both picked up seven digs as well, while Katrin Gotterba led the team with 15 digs.
The Tigers started off the first set strong with two kills from Shelton, helping them to a 4-1 lead. That lead grew to 10-5 thanks to three kills in four attempts from Emily Baptista, leading to a Santa Clara timeout.
The set found a back-and-forth rhythm with the teams mostly trading side-outs. A block by Janie Feldsher and Alicja Wilk helped the Tigers pull away a bit more with four straight points. Feldsher picked up her first kill to make it 18-11 and force another timeout.
An ace by Diederich, followed soon thereafter by a service error on the Broncos, gave the Tigers the 25-15 win in the first set. Santa Clara hit just .071 in the first set, with five errors to their seven kills.
Baptista and Shelton led the way in set one with five kills and four kills, respectively, while Diederich picked up six assists and three digs to go with her service ace. The Tigers forced side outs on 81% of Santa Clara's serves as well.
Santa Clara managed to tie set two at 22 but Baptista's seventh kill of the night put Pacific back in control. For the second set in a row, the Tigers won it on a service error by the Broncos, this time winning 25-23.
The Tigers forced eight attack errors and four service errors in the second set as Santa Clara hit just .155 through two. Elman put up four kills and three digs in set two after putting up four and four in the first.
Pacific forced three errors on Santa Clara's first four attacks of the third set to build another lead. Two blocks by Feldsher and Baptista kept Pacific's offense humming en route to a 9-5 advantage early.
A run of points by the visitors put Pacific down for the first time all night at 10-9. The Tigers didn't allow Santa Clara to extend their lead but couldn't fight back as they managed just three kills in their first 21 attacks of the set.
A rotation violation by the Broncos brought the game back tied at 16. Baptista followed that up with an easy kill, reaching the ball just as it crossed the net to slam it down.
Wilk and Ashlyn Fleming had an excellent block that gave Pacific control of the game after a long rally. That block was followed by a powerful kill by Elman, her tenth of the match. That also gave Elman her 17th match with double-digit kills this season.
Pacific scored six straight points starting with the Wilk and Fleming block to seal the win and take the clean sweep. While Pacific only managed to hit .135 in the third set, they held Santa Clara to .103 hitting. The Broncos made 11 errors as the Tigers picked up four blocks in the set.
Pacific's next game will also be at home when they take on San Francisco on Saturday, October 22 at noon.
