SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - The University of Idaho volleyball team suffered a tough 3-1 loss at the hands of Santa Clara at the Mission Inn of Pismo Beach Invitational Friday.

The Vandals fell by just eight total points with set scores of 21-25, 23-25, 25-19 and 23-25. The loss was Idaho's fourth-consecutive defeat and drops its record to 4-5 on the season. Santa Clara, which received votes in the AVCA Coaches Top 25 poll this week, improved to 6-4.

"We kept it close with our defense and had fewer errors (than Santa Clara), but we couldn't kill the ball," Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said. "We also didn't execute our serving and those errors really cost us. As a team we are doing good things, we just need to reduce our errors and work to get points from the pins. It all comes down to executing."

Idaho committed a season-high 13 service errors in the match and had just 39 kills to Santa Clara's 55. The Vandals held a higher hitting percentage(.126-.105) and the advantage in blocks (16.5-7).

Sarah Conwell led the Vandals with 11 kills and Katie Tribley totaled 31 assists. Meredith Rice finished with 11 digs and Cassie Hamilton added 10 while Anna McKinney and Debbie Pederson each tallied eight blocks.

Idaho continues the tournament with two matches Saturday (Sept. 19). The Vandals face UC Santa Barbara at 2 p.m. and host-team Cal Poly at 7 p.m.