Nov. 17, 2007
Box Score
BERKELEY -
The No. 6 California volleyball team (22-6, 12-5 Pac-10) defeated the visiting Arizona State Sun Devils (15-14, 7-9) in a three-game sweep (30-27, 34-32, 30-22) tonight at Haas Pavilion. Notching their 12th win of 2007, the Golden Bears matched their school record for conference wins in a season with one match left on the schedule.
Playing their best on Senior Night, outside hitter Angie Pressey and middle hitter Ellen Orchard led the Bears to their second 3-0 sweep in as many nights with 15 and 12 kills respectively. Pressey hit .393 with only four errors on her 28 attacks and had seven digs. Orchard hit .435, attacking 23 times with two errors, adding three block assists to her effort. Those blocks give Orchard 162 on the season, six away from her personal best of 168 and good for third best all-time at Cal.
The Bears hit .348, registering 60 kills with only 14 errors (132 att) for their fifth best percentage of the season. A strong effort, hitting .450 (22k, 4e, 40att) gave the Bears the victory but the team hit well early on as well, putting up a .362 hitting percentage in the opening game with 20 kills, three errors and 47 attacks. Struggling in the serving game all evening (13 service errors, nine receiving errors), the Bears used their play at the net to extinguish Arizona State's attempts at a comeback.
Cal got out to a 12-point lead (28-16) late in game three after freshman setter Carli Lloyd set up junior outside hitter Am'ra Solomon for a kill down the left hand side. However, troubles receiving the serve gave the Sun Devils a short-lived 5-0 run, put to an end with a kill by sophomore outside Cat Dailey. Saving one game-point, Arizona State eventually committed an error to end the match in a 3-0 sweep. Entering the match in the second and third games, sophomore middle hitter Mindi Wiley registered a .500 hitting percentage with her four kills on eight attacks without an error. Wiley's six block assists are a career high.
The second game was as tight as they come, with the teams trading points nearly the entire way. The Bears were down 6-8 when Wiley put a shot off Sun Devil libero Sydney Donahue's shoulder to give Cal a three-point swing and a 9-8 lead. Neither team led by more than two points in the game, with the Bears getting 18 kills (7e, 45att, .244) and the Devils hitting .209 with 17 kills (8e, 43att). A kill by Pressey from Lloyd gave the Bears game-point at 33-32. A furious rally on the next point gave Lloyd a clear look at a put-back off an overpass. She took advantage and gave the Bears the 2-0 advantage heading into the break.
In game one, Cal jumped out to a 4-1 lead, using a four-point run but the Sun Devils stormed right back to tie the score at four. The teams stayed side-by-side on the scoreboard until a short Cal run gave the Bears a three-point advantage at 13-10. A block by sophomore middle hitter Kat Reilly and Lloyd gave the Bears game-point and Lloyd the serve. Lloyd's serve came up an ace to securing game one for the Bears.
The Bears will play their final match of the season on Friday, Nov. 23 as they pay a visit to rival Stanford. The match begins at 7 p.m. at Maples Pavilion and will be carried by Fox Sports Net on a delayed showing. Check your local listings for times.
