MATCH STATS
No. 25 San Diego def. Santa Clara 3-0 (26-24, 25-19,
- San Diego moves to 9-3, 2-0 WCC; Santa Clara falls to 7-7, 0-2 WCC
- Santa Clara, California
- Attendance: 409
- Box Score
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – No. 25 San Diego bested Santa Clara in every statistical category in a West Coast Conference road sweep on Saturday.
The Toreros hit .308 to the Broncos’ .243 effort, and edged Santa Clara 47-44 in kills, 4-2 in aces and 9-7 in blocks.
Senior opposite Jayden Kennedy racked up a match-high 13 kills, while redshirt junior middle blocker Kaity Edwards and freshman outside hitter Roxie Wiblin added 12 and 10 respectively for USD. Edwards hit at a team-best .526 clip, with just two miscues. Junior middle Addie Picha notched five kills to go with her match-high eight blocks. Senior setter Kristen Gengenbacher paced the defense with 10 digs to go with her 31 assists.
Sophomore outside Michelle Gajdka and senior middle Jensen Cunningham led the way for Santa Clara with 13 and 10 kill efforts respectively. Gajdka rounde dout a double-double with a match-high 11 digs. Cunningham hit .500 for the match with just one error, while chipping in a team-high three blocks. Redshirt sophomore middle Taylor Odom also added a trio of stuffs.
Santa Clara got a pair of kills and a block by Gajdka early in Set 1 en route to a 6-2 lead. San Diego tied it up at 6 and 7, but couldn’t break through. Later, trailing 11-8 after a stuff by junior middle Hailey Lindberg and Odom, the Toreros took their first lead with a 5-0 run, including kills by Wiblin, Kennedy and Picha. USD upped the lead to 17-14 with kills by junior outside Lauren Fuller, Edwards and Kennedy, but couldn’t hold off a four-point run by the Broncos. A pair of San Diego miscues capped the rally and put Santa Clara up 18-17, and later a solo stuff by freshman outside Chloe Loreen made it 22-19. Kennedy downed two kills and Picha and Wiblin teamed up on a block to put USD back on top 23-22. A Wiblin kill gave the Toreros set point at 24-23, then Kennedy and Edwards closed out the 26-24 win.
The Broncos again held the early advantage in Set 2, leading 11-5 with help from four USD miscues and two Gajdka kills. The Toreros pulled back into the mix with a 7-1 run, tying the score at 12. Two stuffs by Picha and Gengenbacher leveled the set. A Wiblin kill and Gengenbacher ace put San Diego in front 14-13, and save a tie at 14, the squad would hold the edge the rest of the way. A 4-0 run gave USD some breaking room at 20-15, then kills by Edwards, senior outside Merve Tanyel and Wiblin helped the Toreros to a set-point try at 24-18. A Picha kill put San Diego in the driver’s seat with a 2-0 match lead.
Set 3 featured six ties, including five in the first 10 points. San Diego used a pair of Santa Clara errors to gain a 10-7 edge, only to see the Broncos knot the score at 11 on a Gajdka putaway. Four Edwards kills gave USD a 19-14 advantage. A Kennedy kill pushed the lead to six at 22-16. The teams split the last six points, with the Toreros clinching the match at 25-19 on a Fuller putaway. USD hit at a .467 clip with just one hitting error in the final stanza, while also putting up five blocks.
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