Sept. 3, 1999
BOULDER, CO - The University of California women's volleyball team (0-2) gave an outstanding effort, taking No. 19 ranked Colorado (2-1) to five games before losing 3-2 (15-7, 10-15, 10-15, 15-9, 15-6) Friday night at the Coors Events Center on the Colorado campus.
"I think we are extremely close to making a breakthrough," said Cal's first year coach Rich Feller, who was the coach at Colorado State in Fort Collins, CO from 1983-96. "We needed to play a game like this, and we need to win a game like this to know we can do it. We had our opportunities to win the fourth game, but I love the way our team fought till the end."
In the first game, Colorado had jumped out to a 10-1 lead before Cal battled back to make the score 10-7, thanks in part to two service aces from Candace McNamee, and service aces from Brook Coulter and Alicia Perry. However, that was as close as the Bears could get as the Buffaloes rattled off the next five points to win 15-7. Cal scored five of its seven points in the first game on service aces.
The second game was much better for the Bears as they captured their first game of the 1999 season after losing 3-0 in the season opener against No. 4 ranked Hawaii. The tightly contested contest saw the game tied at 5-5 and 7-7 before Cal was able to run off the next three points for a 10-7 lead, highlighted by a kill by freshman outside hitter Leah Young. Again Colorado fought back, tying the game at 10-10, but the Bears remained tough and scored the next five points for the 15-10 win. During the final 5-0 run, Cal received kills from freshman Courtney Guerra, junior Alicia Perry and Young. The Bears final point came on a block by Perry and Guerra.
In the third game Cal continued its spirited play and won, 15-10. With the game tied, 8-8, the Bears showed why their much improved in 1999. Cal went on a 4-0 run to take a 12-8 lead. Despite Colorado getting back within 12-10, the Bears responded by finishing the game with a 3-0 run. Key plays in Cal's final run were a service ace by Guerra and kills by Young and Coulter.
The momentum went back to Colorado in the fourth game. The Bears battled back from a 6-3 deficit to tie the game 6-6, but after a long point with the score 9-9, the Buffaloes were able to make a 6-0 run to win 15-9.
In the fifth and final game, which is scored by rally scoring, Cal was never really in the contest, losing 15-6. The Bears did battle back from a 6-3 deficit to get within 6-5, and later got within 7-6, but that was as close as Cal got.
The Bears were led by Coulter and Perry with 21 and 20 kills, respectively. Coulter, who is from nearby Fort Collins, CO, also led Cal with 19 digs. Sophomore setter McNamee and Guerra each had three service aces. McNamee also had a career-high 63 assists for the match.
The Bears will next take on the University of Denver Pioneers on Saturday, Sept. 4 in Denver.
