Sept. 28, 2007

Box Score

BERKELEY - The No. 10 California volleyball team (10-4, 0-3 Pac-10) dropped its third-straight conference match to the No. 4 USC Women of Troy (13-1, 3-1) in four games (30-17, 25-30, 19-30, 27-30) tonight at Haas Pavilion.

Each team coming off losses, the Bears looked to notch their first conference win and stop a short two-game losing streak at Haas Pavilion. Cal fought hard in the fourth game to preserve what little bit of a lead it could generate. The Bears traded leads with the Trojans several times throughout a game that included 16 ties. With USC ahead 28-27, Cal head coach Rich Feller called a timeout. Returning to the court, the Bears were not able to climb back into a tie and the Trojans put the match away on a kill by freshman Kimmee Roleder.

Sophomore outside hitter Hana Cutura led the Bears with 22 kills (11e, 57att, .193) while senior outside hitter Angie Pressey contributed 14 kills as well (4e, 37att, .368). Junior middle/outside hitter Morgan Beck put down 10 kills (3e, 19att, .368). The Bears blocked well once again, registering 12.5 total team blocks but allowed the Trojans to improve their hitting in games two and three, enough to notch wins for USC.

The Golden Bears opened up the match with an impressive hitting performance in game one, registering 19 kills (4e, 32att) for a .469 hitting percentage. Cutura continued to have the hot hand as she alone had nine of those kills (2e, 15att, .467). The Bears set themselves up for a comfortable win in the opening stanza, jumping out by as many as 14 points by keeping the Trojan attack at bay with a .129 hitting percentage.

The Trojans' hitting improved in the second game (16k, 4e, 35att, .343), giving USC a cushion throughout. With the score tied at nine, USC head coach Mick Haley received a yellow card warning. His Trojans found themselves tied at 12 and the Bears took advantage of USC miscues to come within a point at 24-25 but the Trojans eventually put together enough points to fend off the Bears' bid for a comeback.

Cal's unforced errors early in game three gave USC a quick five-point lead. Angie Pressey's kill put an end to a six-point USC run and started the Bears on a little run of their own. However, hitting .057 in the game did the Bears in as they committed only two fewer errors than they had kills. The Trojans put together a 12-point lead that was too large for the Bears to overcome and took game three for a 2-1 match lead, eventually closing out the match in four.

The Golden Bears take to the road for the seasons' first conference road matches as they play the No. 21 Oregon Ducks on Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. Fox Sports Net will televise the Cal-Oregon match on a tape delay on Oct. 7 at noon and again at noon on Oct. 11. Cal will then face off against the Oregon State Beavers on Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. with live Gametracker coverage via CalBears.com