Oct. 27, 2007

Box Score

LOS ANGELES - The No. 9 California volleyball team (17-5, 7-4 Pac-10) played its second five-game match in as many nights to defeat No. 7 UCLA (16-6, 6-5), pulling out the 3-2 victory (27-30, 30-20, 27-30, 30-27, 17-15) tonight at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles.

Senior outside hitter Angie Pressey led the way for the Golden Bears with 26 kills, hitting .224 (11e, 67att) setting a career high, the second night in a row with her 67 attacks. Pressey was one dig shy of posting her second consecutive double-double, putting up nine. Sophomore Kristen Kathan also dug up 25 balls to preserve many crucial Cal points. Junior outside hitter/middle hitter Morgan Beck put up a stellar .424 hitting percentage, notching 18 kills on the night (4e, 33att) and sophomore outside hitter Hana Cutura added 21 kills (10e, 58att) hitting .190 for the match. Senior middle hitter Ellen Orchard's 11 blocks for the match coupled with her nine against USC, gives her 444 total career blocks, a new California individual career record. The Bears tied a season high with 10 service aces as a team and put up 16 total team blocks to pull out the win.

Game five began with UCLA taking the first three points but a Pressey kill ended the Bear drought. Cal tied the game at four as the teams began to trade points. The Bears took an 11-8 lead but that was all the Bruins would give them as they stormed back to tie the game at 13. Both teams battled hard down the stretch until a Cat Dailey service ace gave the Bears game and match point. A Pressey kill sealed the deal for the Bears as they seized the programs first-ever victory at Pauley Pavilion.

Each team hit for about .130 in the fourth game, each tallying 16 kills. After the Bruins held the lead for most of the start of the game, two consecutive Pressey kills tied the match at 17, giving Dailey the serve. A seven point run, buoyed by serves from Dailey, three of which were aces, gave Cal a five-point lead. It was a block assist by Mindi Wiley and Carli Lloyd that set the Bears up with four chances to win the game but the Bruins didn't make it easy for Cal. A Cutura kill through a couple of UCLA blocks finally closed the books on game four, sending the match to a fifth and deciding game.

In game three, the teams traded points for a while before the Bruins got out to as much as an eight point lead. Cal hit well from the field, putting down 17 kills on 44 attacks (5e, .273) while holding UCLA to .200 (17k, 7e, 50att). Down eight and reeling, the Bears used an eight-nothing run on Kristen Kathan serves to tie the match up at 26. The tie wasn't enough to keep Cal afloat, however, as UCLA closed out the Bears to take a 2-1 lead into game four.

The Bears notched 17 kills in game two (4e, 35att) to hit for .371. More importantly, Cal played strong defense at the net to hold the Bruins to .050 (12k, 10e, 77att). With the score knotted up at five, a Cutura kill down the left sideline gave Cal a lead that the Bears ran up to seven at 20-13. Using strong hitting in the second chapter, the Bears ran their lead up to eight at 28-20 forcing a UCLA timeout. Returning from the bench, Cal poured it on, scoring the final two points on a Cutura kill and finally, an Ellen Orchard service ace to tie the match up at a game a piece.

The Bruins opened up a 5-1 lead to start the match and built their lead to seven at one point but the Bears battled back to earn a tie at 18-all. An overpass gave Morgan Beck an easy kill that tied the score up again at 21 before the Bruins took off on a 5-2 run. The lead the Bears surrendered was too much to overcome as UCLA finished off the first game 30-27.

The Bears will return home to play host to Oregon State in a 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 1 match before taking on the Oregon Ducks on Friday, Nov. 2, also at 7 p.m. Check CalBears.com for GameTracker updates.

Quotes

Head Coach Rich Feller

On tonight's match
"I thought tonight, our team played extremely focused. They really scrapped even though we're not known as a scrappy team but tonight, the team really got after it. They moved to get some balls and made the plays that really went above and beyond. Win or lose, we played hard the whole time and I felt really good tonight."

On Angie Pressey and Ellen Orchard going out as seniors, beating UCLA in Pauley Pavilion
"I love it. They deserve to have their senior year finish strong and this is a big win. That's a huge accomplishment for the two of them to hang their hats on forever."

On the Pac-10 conference
"I think this win really helps legitimize the Pac-10 as the strongest conference. On any given night, any of the top teams can beat each other. For Cal to be able to be up there with everyone is a great honor. Any of these teams can get to the final four and once you get there, you have a great shot at winning it all. I think this really proves that we have what it takes to do that."

Senior outside hitter Angie Pressey

On beating UCLA in Pauley Pavilion
"This is huge. Before today, we had only beaten them once. That first win was such a relief but now, I feel like times are changing. I'm not saying that we walked around expecting to win but we knew that with our talent, we certainly had a chance to win and we did."

On the team rallying from behind
"This was a total 180 degree turn from yesterday. We kind of let it go in game five yesterday (against USC) but today we had the attitude to win right from the jump. When we play like that, we feel like we can beat anybody."

Senior middle hitter Ellen Orchard

On beating UCLA in Pauley Pavilion
"Obviously, it's a great feeling because Angie and I were here when we beat UCLA for the first time in school history and for us to beat UCLA here at Pauley too, it just shows how hard the team has worked to get where we are today."

On the teams' overall performance today
"We showed that we never give up tonight. We would be behind but we would just keep working and out-work the other team."