Nov. 2, 2007

Box Score

BERKELEY - The No. 8 California volleyball team (19-5, 9-4 Pac-10) matched its Pac-10 record in wins from a year ago with a 3-0 sweep (30-23, 30-28, 30-23) of No. 19 Oregon (16-9, 5-8) tonight at Haas Pavilion. The Bears still have five matches on the schedule with the opportunity for post-season play.

Pulling off a second-straight sweep and extending their winning streak to three matches, the Bears completed the night hitting .321 with 51 kills (17e, 106att). Cal was led by senior outside hitter Angie Pressey's 15 kills (4e, 22att, .500) who posted the matches only double-double line by adding 11 digs to her effort. The Bears put up 11.5 total team blocks with all but two players getting at least one block assist in the match.

The Bears closed out the match with a strong effort, fending off a short-lived Oregon run when freshman setter Carli Lloyd put a ball right in the middle for senior middle hitter Ellen Orchard, who put the last kill down off two Duck blockers. The Bears put up their best hitting of the three games in game three by notching 19 kills on only 34 attempts with a match-low four errors (.441).

The second-game went back and forth for both teams in the beginning, enduring 18 tie scores when the dust finally settled. With the score tied at 17, the Bears gave up a 4-1 run to the Ducks. A kill by Pressey had the game knotted back up at 22 before Oregon played several strong points to earn a 28-26 lead. After a California timeout, the Bears earned a side-out on a kill by sophomore outside hitter Hana Cutura. An Oregon ball-handling error gave Cal the final tie of the game. Lloyd got her second of three service aces to give Cal game-point. Forcing the Ducks to work for the final point, the Bears took game two on an Oregon attack error and headed into game three with a 2-0 lead for the 17th time this season.

Cal came out of the blocks in game one a little shaky, surrendering a 9-6 lead to the Ducks before gathering themselves to tie the score at 10. Using several short runs and four team blocks, the Bears took the first game by a score of 30-23. Cal is now 15-3 on the season when winning the first game.

The Bears return to the road for two matches in Washington next week. Cal will take on Washington State at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 8 at Bohler Gym in Pullman, Wash. The following night, the Bears go to Seattle, Wash. to clash with Pac-10 leader Washington at 7 p.m. from Bank of America Arena.