Box Score SAN FRANCISCO -- The growing pains for a young USF team continued on Friday night in a three-set loss to Santa Clara inside War Memorial at The Sobrato Center.
 
The Broncos handed USF its 10th consecutive defeat by the set scores of 25-18, 25-17 and 25-16, dropping the Dons record to 4-15 overall and 0-6 in the West Coast Conference. Santa Clara improves to 11-7 overall and 2-4 in conference play.
 
Despite the straight set loss, first-year head coach Vicki Brown saw positive signs against a team that was ranked as high as 17th in the nation earlier this season. "Everything we were working on in a good week of practice transferred over to the game," said Brown. "We were a little inconsistent in each set and against a team like Santa Clara you need to be steady from start to finish. Will continue to emphasize the things we did well and continue to work on areas that are still marked for improvement."
 
Santa Clara seized control of the first set with a 6-0 run to take an 8-2 lead. The Dons managed to cut the advantage down to 11-9 only to see Santa Clara increase the lead to nine points at 23-14 before winning by the final 25-18 count.
 
Set two was the most competitive of the match. The set was even at 11-11 when the Broncos ripped off four quick points to take a 15-11 lead. Holding onto an 18-15 lead, Santa Clara scored three straight points to increase its lead to 21-15 en route to a 25-17 victory in set three.
 
Set three was even at 5-5 when Santa Clara used an 11-2 spurt to open a 16-7 lead in the decisive game. USF fought back to close to within four points on two occasions, last at 20-16 following a Kate Ashman kill. However, the Broncos ran off five straight points to close out the set and the match, 25-16.
 
USF freshman Tyna Adamcikova had a match-high 13 kills while senior Emily Reed chipped in with seven. Nikki Hess and Sabrina Cunningham each had 10 kills to pace the Broncos. SCU hit .320 for the match and limited USF to a .111 hitting percentage.
 
The Dons will be back in action next Thursday night against Pepperdine beginning at 7:00 p.m. inside War Memorial at the Sobrato Center.