Nov. 23, 2007

Box Score

STANFORD, Calif. - The No. 7 California volleyball team (22-7, 12-6 Pac-10), fell to No. 4 Stanford (27-2, 16-2) in five games (30-32, 30-19, 23-30, 30-22, 14-16) tonight at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif. The Bears conclude the regular season matching their school-record 12 conference wins and now look forward to post-season play.

The Bears were led by sophomore outside hitter Hana Cutura, who put up a career-high 29 kills tonight, hitting .339 (10e, 56att). Senior outside Angie Pressey put together her 11th double-double of the season with 21 kills (12e, 61att, .148) and 11 digs on the night while freshman setter Carli Lloyd also registered a double-double, adding 13 digs to her 64 assists. As a team, the Bears hit .250 on 184 attacks tonight (78k, 32e) with an impressive .455 in the fifth game (11k, 1e, 22att) but were unable to keep pace with Stanford's .290 mark.

Game five saw 13 ties and five lead changes as the Bears went toe-to-toe with the Cardinal, holding the lead eight times to six. However, it was Stanford that led in the end to claim the match and the Pac-10 Conference crown for the second-straight season. A Cutura service ace gave the Bears a two-point lead at 13-11. Coming out of a timeout, the Cardinal scored the next two points to tie the game. Tied again at 14, a Cynthia Barboza kill put Stanford one point away from taking a win when a Pressey attack got blocked back onto the court to end the match.

The Bears weren't able to get on track in game four, surrendering a 6-1 lead to the Cardinal right off the bat. Cal got within two points several times only to see Stanford push back and eventually claim an eight point advantage at 29-21. It was two consecutive Foluke Akinradewo service aces that gave the Cardinal game-point in the fourth. A Wiley attack to the middle of the court stopped the bleeding for the Bears but only for a short while as the Cardinal closed out the fourth to force a game-five. Stanford had 19 kills in game four with only three errors on 40 attacks to hit .400 and added two service aces to their scoring line.

Never trailing in the third game, the Bears came out strong after the break and built a 6-1 lead. Stanford would make a short run but Cal took a six-point lead at 11-5 on a sequence that included a Cutura kill, a Morgan Beck block solo, a kill by Beck and a Cutura service ace. On the backs of two consecutive Ellen Orchard aces, the Bears took their largest lead of the game at 28-21. A Cutura kill down the left-hand line gave the Bears six game-points to work with before an Akinradewo attack error ended any hopes of a Stanford comeback. The Bears were able to hold the Cardinal to just .062 hitting in the third, allowing only 10 kills with eight errors (32att).

The Cardinal ran away with game two, hitting .372 with only three errors (19k, 43att). The Bears had trouble stopping the Stanford attack but allowed the game to get out of hand by only hitting .150 themselves (13k, 7e, 40att). Three consecutive Pressey kills put Cal within three at 16-13 but the Cardinal built that lead to ten on a Franci Girard kill at 25-15. Stanford closed out game two on an Akinradewo kill, tying the match at one game a piece.

It took 32 points and eight kills by Cutura but the Bears took game one after trailing by six (28-22). Cutura had four of the Bears final six points, all on kills. Hitting .244, the Bears notched 20 kills in the opening game on 45 attacks (9 errors) and held the Cardinal to .190 (15k, 7e, 42att). After opening up a 4-1 lead coming out of the blocks the Bears allowed the Cardinal to come rushing back to knot things up at seven points a piece. Morgan Beck's kill off an overpass gave the Bears a 12-10 lead before Stanford took off on a four-point run.

The match was filmed for broadcast by Fox Sports Net with Paul Sunderland calling the action and Karch Kiraly and Holly McPeak providing color commentary. The tape delayed match will be shown Sunday, Nov. 25 at 4 p.m. on FSN in the Bay Area. ESPNU will be broadcasting the NCAA selection show at 5 p.m. on No. 25.