Box Score

SANTA CLARA, Calif. --- The Santa Clara Broncos defeated the Portland Pilots by a 3-1 margin on Thursday night in West Coast Conference volleyball action at the Leavey Center. Santa Clara won 25-20, 16-25, 25-21, 26-24.

Portland sophomore Makayla Lindburg finished with her fifth double-double of the season with 17 kills and 10 digs, while senior Emily Liger added her team-high eighth double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs for the Pilots (5-11, 0-5 WCC).

The Broncos (13-5, 3-2 WCC) were paced by 17 kills from Sabrina Clayton, while Kirsten Mead distributed 46 assists, had 10 digs and six blocks. Mead also secured the match for the host Broncos with a service ace.

The Pilots outhit Santa Clara .158 to .137 for the match, while the Broncos picked up a 12-9 advantage in team blocks.

Santa Clara trailed early in the first set, but came back to hit .216 as five different players had multiple kills to pull out the 25-20 victory. Lindburg paced Portland with six kills in the set, but the Pilots struggled to a .067 hitting percentage, including nine errors.

The Pilots scored five straight points capped by a block from sophomore Katie Sullivan and freshman Sarah Savoca to take a 14-9 lead and force a Broncos timeout early in the second set. After Santa Clara pulled within 17-14, Lindburg recorded another kill and Brittney Markwith came up with a big solo block as Portland pushed back to a 20-14 edge. The Pilots cruised from there and evened the match on a combo block from Liger and Sullivan for a 25-16 win. The Pilots hit an efficient .409 in the set with just two errors, while the Broncos committed 11 errors with just six kills.

Portland trailed by a 20-16 margin late in the third set and was able to pull within 21-20 on a Sullivan kill, but the Broncos rattled off five straight to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

The fourth started strong for the Pilots as a Jacky Rodriquez ace was sandwiched between a kill and solo block by Lindburg to give the visitors a 7-4 lead. Portland held the lead for a majority of the set and had set point at 24-23, but Clayton came up big with back-to-back kills and Mead closed it out with an ace.

Portland will continue the Bay Area road trip on Saturday afternoon against the San Francisco Dons at War Memorial Gymnasium. The match is set for a 1 p.m. start.