Nov. 12, 1999
TUCSON, AZ - The University of California women's volleyball team (10-15, 5-11 in the Pac-10) won the first game, but could not upset No. 18 ranked Arizona, losing 3-1 (14-16, 15-5, 15-7, 15-13), Friday evening at the McKale Center on the Arizona campus. The Wildcats improve to 16-8 overall and 10-5 in the Pac-10.
Cal was led by junior outside hitter Alicia Perry with 22 kills, and senior outside hitter Brook Coulter added 14 kills and a team-high 16 digs. Senior middle blocker Kellie Alva had 11 kills and seven block assists, and freshmen Courtney Guerra and Leah Young finished with impressive hitting percentages with .467 (seven kills, no errors, 15 attempts) and .412 (nine kills, two errors, 17 attempts), respectively.
"I was happy with overall physical effort, but for the first time this season our passing and defense let us down," said Cal coach Rich Feller. "We have to give some credit to Arizona for its overpowering middle attack."
In game one, the Bears started out extremely well, jumping out to 5-0 lead and later holding a 7-1 advantage with the help of three kills by Perry and a kill by Alva. Arizona came roaring back, scoring nine straight points to take a 10-7 lead. Cal then established another run, tying the contest 10-10 on blocks by Young, Guerra and Perry, a kill by Young and a kill by Perry. The game went back and forth from that point on with ties at 10-10, 11-11, 12-12, 13-13 and 14-14. Finally, the Bears were able to prevail when a tip by Coulter tied the game at 14 and then two Arizona errors led to a 16-14 Cal win. Perry led the Bears with 12 kills and Cal outhit the Wildcats, .260 to .135, in the first game
Similar to Thursday night at Arizona State, Cal struggled in the second game after playing well in the first game, falling behind 8-0 and eventually losing, 15-5. Game three was another struggle for the Bears. After tying the game, 2-2, on blocks by Alva and McNamee, Cal gave up 10 straight points to fall behind, 12-2. The closest the Bears were able to get after that was within six at 12-6 and 13-7, before falling 15-7.
The fourth game was tight. Cal got within 6-5 on a service ace by Alva, but then had three receiving errors in a row to fall in a hole. Arizona went on a roll and took a 12-5 lead before the Bears got going again. Slowly Cal came back. Down 14-9, the Wildcats had four straight errors to make the score, 14-12, and then a block by Alva and Coulter made it 14-13. However, the Bears couldn't maintain a rally and finally fell, 15-13, to lose the match.
Cal next try to break a four-match losing streak when it hosts Washington State, Friday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. and Washington, Saturday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m at Haas Pavilion.
