STOCKTON, Calif.- The Pacific volleyball team (10-5, 2-1) swept the visiting Santa Clara Broncos (9-6, 1-2) by a 3-0 margin to improve to a perfect 6-0 at home in the Alex G. Spanos Center.
Pacific came ready to play, dusting off Thursday night's five-set thriller. The Tigers hit a staggering .366 through three sets, a marked improvement from the .221 hitting percentage on Thursday. Senior
Biamba Kabengele led the charge offensively for the Tigers, hitting a season-high .478 (13-2-23) on 23 attempts. Senior
Alexa Edwards also hit a season-best .478 (12-1-23) on a similar number of attempts. The two combined for 25 kills on the day.
Edwards led the defense for the Tigers, collecting 13 digs. Junior
Jenna Heller added 10 of her own, while proving to be a problem on both sides of the ball. Her 26 assists led the team, helping the junior maintain her spot in the WCC top-10 in assists.
Pacific got off to a swift start, hitting .286 and notching 11 kills to down the Broncos 25-15 in the first set. They took that momentum into the second, despite Santa Clara battling back. The Tigers edged out the Broncos 27-25 after Santa Clara failed to clear the net on set point.
Now up two sets to one, the Tiger offense refused to relent. They hit .609 on 23 attempts and collected 15 kills in the final set. It proved too much for Santa Clara, and they were quickly defeated, 25-13.
The Tigers stay perfect at home backed by a hot offense. According to head coach
Greg Gibbons, the team came in after Thursday night ready to reset and attack the next game.
"The reality is, we hit almost .400. They were extremely efficient and played great defense. Their passing was exceptional," Gibbons shared. "We talked yesterday about areas we could build on from the other night. We knew we could play gritty, so I think today they went out there and played more as a team."
Pacific travels to Southern California next week to visit Loyola Marymount and San Diego.