SANTA CLARA, Calif. --- The Santa Clara Broncos held off the Portland Pilots to win 3-2 at the Leavey Center on Thursday night. Brittney Markwith led Portland (11-4, 1-2 WCC) with 13 kills on a .423 hitting percentage during the five set West Coast Conference match.

Santa Clara (12-4, 3-1 WCC) picks up their third win in a row with set scores of 17-25, 25-22, 25-18, 24-26, and 15-13.

The Broncos opened up WCC play with a loss last weekend to San Diego, but rebounded to beat the nationally ranked #10 BYU and then swept Saint Mary's in a midweek match.
The two sides were tied at four before Djurdjina Milovic set up Hannah Troutman for a kill to go up 5-4 that gave Portland some momentum that extended into a three point lead at 7-4.

Mikaela Nocetti took over serving duties with the Pilots owning a four point lead 14-10. This lead extended to eight points as the freshman led Portland on a four point run which included a service ace. Shortly after, Markwith hit a kill to end a short three point Bronco run, and three Santa Clara errors in a row put the Pilots up 24-15. The home side held off two set points before Markwith hit her fourth kill of the set to give the Pilots the early advantage.

The Broncos responded in the second going on a 6-2 run to open the set. The Pilots fought back to tie the set at 11 and Sarah Savoca's third kill of the match gave the Pilots their first lead of the second set 12-11. Portland gained the momentum to take a three point advantage 15-12, but the Broncos came back to tie it at 15. The two sides battled back and forth for a bit before Santa Clara outside hitter Nikki Hess sent the Broncos on a three point run that gave the home squad the advantage they needed to hold on, take the second, and tie up the match. Troutman led Portland offensively through the first two sets with six total kills.

Santa Clara came out strong again in the third to take the 6-3 lead. The Broncos held the advantage through the middle of the set and used four unanswered points to hold a 16-10 lead. The gap would prove too much for the Pilots to overcome as Santa Clara held on to take control of the match 2-1.

Liger had a pair of service aces during a 5-2 run to open up the fourth which gave the Pilots the early momentum that allowed them to control the early part of the set. The Broncos did not let up easy as they fought back to tie the set at 11 off of a great block. Both sides were close through the middle of the set and a kill by Lindburg tied the set up at 20. Santa Clara then went on a 4-1 run to take a 24-21 lead. The Pilots then went on an incredible five point run that ended with a Troutman kill to take the fourth and force a fifth tie breaker.
 
The Broncos came out hitting in the fifth, but the Pilots did well to hold with the opposite side. Lindburg and Maddy Mandon teamed up to roof the Santa Clara attacker to cut the Bronco lead to two at 11-9. Portland kept the momentum and Nocetti added another service ace to tie the set at 11. Hess kept hitting well for the Broncos who were able to hold off the Pilot attack to win the final set 15-13.

The Pilots continue their road trip on Saturday with a match against the San Francisco Dons at 1:00 p.m. in the War Memorial Gym.