SANTA CLARA, Calif. –  The Portland Pilots fought through a five set thriller to defeat Santa Clara 3-2 at the Leavey Center on Saturday afternoon. In addition to the 3-2 win against San Francisco Thursday night, this marks the second ever road sweep in conference for the Pilots, the first also coming against USF and Santa Clara last year. The Pilots battled through five sets with scores of 13-25, 25-21, 19-25, 26-24, 15-8.

After Santa Clara (7-10, 0-5) cruised through the first set to win 25-13, the Pilots responded by fighting evenly though the second set, until Thompson pushed the Pilots (11-4, 2-1) ahead by two with a kill to make it 20-18. In the final points of the second set, Pukis produced back-to-back kills to take the 25-21 second set win.

With both teams tied up 1-1, the Broncos answered by taking the third set, headed by several short runs in the final points. Portland then pushed ahead early to 8-5 in the fourth set, led by two kills from sophomore Katie Barker. The Broncos fought to keep the Pilots within reach for the next several points and then took the lead by one with a five-point run. Junior Reghan Pukis added two more kills and senior Sarah Savoca a block to take back the lead at 21-19. Santa Clara then took back the lead to push to set point, but the pilots continued to fight to the 26-24 set win.

Senior Hannah Troutman sent the Pilots ahead 8-4 with three kills and a row, along with a kill from Savoca. The Broncos attempted to break up Portland's momentum with kills from Alison Kantor and Jensen Cunningham, but Troutman and Barker continued to produce kills to push forward with a six-point run. Santa Clara then held the Pilots at match point, but Pukis sealed the match by claiming the final kill.

Troutman, Barker, and Pukis each had double-digit kills with 16, 15, and 15 respectively. Senior Morgan Robinson had 17 digs and sophomore Cali Thompson had 45 assists.

The Pilots will next be in action in the Chiles Center next weekend facing Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine.