Oct 11- All eight WCC squads took the court Saturday night in conference matches. Pepperdine defeated LMU 3-1 in the only match outside of the Bay Area. Santa Clara improved to 3-0 in conference play with a sweep of San Diego and Saint Mary's swept Portland. San Francisco tied a program record with their 17th win of the season, a 3-1 decision over Gonzaga.

Santa Clara 3, San Diego 0
The 14th-ranked Santa Clara University volleyball team opened up its 2003 home league season with a convincing 3-0 sweep of 18th-ranked San Diego in front of 723 fans Saturday night at the Leavey Center. With the win the Broncos move to 12-6 overall and 3-0 in leauge play while the Toreros fall to 13-4 overall and 2-1 in West Coast Conference action.

Those adjustments come easier when there are three solid seniors inBecky Potter, Kelli Sousa and Becky Biniek to lead the way. Potter led the Broncos with 17 kills while Sousa guided the offense with 45 assists, eight of which went to Biniek.

Defensively, it was at the net where the Broncos came up big as Biniek posted six block assists alongside Potter's five. As a team Santa Clara had 12 total blocks, 10 more than their counterparts, making up for the seven extra digs that San Diego accumulated over SCU.

Sophomore Alyssa Lantz also stepped up big for the Broncos, posting 10 kills to go along with her match-high 16 digs. Fellow sophomore Toni Muratore chipped in with 11 kills on the evening.

For the Toreros it was Devon Forester who carried the majority of the load on the night, notching 28 kills on 55 attempts with only eight errors for a .364 percentage. She also added a team-high 13 digs while setter Lindsey Sherburne posted a match-high 54 assists.

Saint Mary's 3, Portland 0
The Saint Mary's women's volleyball team blanked the visiting Portland Pilots by the final score of 3-0. Game scores of the Gaels victory over the Pilots were 31-29, 30-17, 30-27. With the win the Gaels improved to 15-6 (2-2) while Portland fell to 10-8 (0-4).

In an extremely close match-up, both Saint Mary's and Portland play hard throughout the match. The Gaels defense, once again, came up big for the team and proved to be a major factor in a Saint Mary's victory. The Gaels more than doubled the Pilots block assist total by recording 13 to Portland's 6. Though the Gaels posted a total of 58 kills to the Pilots 47, the two team were reasonably close in terms of hitting percentage as SMC finished with a .305 to the Pilots .221.

Offensively, the Gaels were led by both Kaui Salzman and Jill Parmele. Salzman, a sophomore, recorded her second double-double of the week in kills and digs as she totaled 14 kills and 10 digs against the Pilots. For the match, Salzman finished with two aces and two block assists. Parmele, SMC's lone senior, also posted a double-double as she finished with 19 kills and 10 digs for the match. On the night, the Acampo, CA native totaled one assist, one ace, and two block assists.

San Francisco 3, Gonzaga 1
USF volleyball made more history in a season full of firsts by tying a program record with their 17th victory of the season in a 3-1 win (30-23, 30-28, 27-30, 30-12) against Gonzaga in West Coast Conference play Saturday at War Memorial Gym. San Francisco (17-2, 2-2 WCC) wins their second straight league home match against the Bulldogs (3-15, 0-4 WCC), evening their WCC record.

Senior middle blocker Teresa Russell led a season-high five double-double performances with an 18-kill, 12-dig effort. Senior outside hitter Caroline Skacel added 15 kills on .400 hitting to go along with 18 digs, while senior outside hitter Brittanie Budinger also recorded 15 kills and 18 digs. Freshman outside hitter Theresa Hart recorded 10 kills and 11 digs for the Dons, while senior setter April Scoggin dished out 49 assists and added 13 digs.

USF cruised to the victory in game one, but Gonzaga made them work for game two. The Bulldogs took advantage of poor USF hitting in game three to take the third set, which sparked the Dons in game four. San Francisco exploded out of the gate and never looked back to win for the 17th time this season, tying the 1985 squad for the most wins in program history.

Pepperdine 3, LMU 1
In an intense West Coast Conference battle between two of the nation's top teams, the No. 6-ranked Pepperdine Waves (13-2, 3-0) extened its winning streak to 12 matches after sliding past No. 20 Loyola Marymount (17-3, 2-1 WCC) in four games Saturday night at Firestone Fieldhouse. The scores were 31-29, 30-17, 24-30, and 30-20.

Senior outside hitter Katie Wilkins paced both teams with a match-high 28 kills and sophomore Katy Daly contributed on both sides of the net by finishing with 14 kills and 16 digs.

The first game displayed the best of WCC volleyball action as both teams fought to control the net. After Daly completed a kill, the Waves and Lions were tied at 27 all. The game went back and forth and tied up at 28 and 29 points and after Wilkins and setter Melissa Mehlhorn recorded a block assist, Pepperdine took the 30-29 lead. Wilkins knocked-down a powerful hit the next play and the Waves captured the first game, 31-29.

Pepperdine controlled the second game and defeated the Lions with ease 30-17. The third outing proved to be the exact opposite, as LMU stumped the Waves, 24-30. The Lions took the early lead thanks to an outstanding performance by LMU's Kelli Nerison. In the fourth and final game, the opponents gave it a run, but in the end Pepperdine was to powerful and walked away with a 30-20 victory.

Pepperdine out-hit Loyola Marymount 77.0 to 44.0 while LMU out-blocked the Waves 17.0 to 7.0.