Sept. 13, 2008

Box Score

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The No. 4-ranked California volleyball team (6-1, 0-0 Pac-10) came from being behind 2-1 in the set count to take a 3-2 victory (25-17, 21-25, 20-25, 25-23, 16-14) over Notre Dame (3-5, 0-0 Big East) today in the Diet Coke Classic Volleyball Tournament at the Sports Pavilion in Minneapolis, Minn. The Golden Bears' freshman tandem of outside hitter Tarah Murrey and middle hitter Shannon Hawari came up big in the fourth and fifth sets to help Cal get back in the win column. As a team, the Bears got 68 kills (23e, 142att) and attacked with a .317 success rate while holding the Fighting Irish to a .248 mark, most importantly, a negative .056 in the fifth and final set.

Murrey posted the first double-double of her collegiate career, getting 10 kills (4e, 23att, .261) and 12 digs while Hawari notched four kills on seven attacks without an error (.571) and added seven total blocks on the night. The Bears relied once again on the heavy hitting right hand of junior All-American outside hitter Hana Cutura, who led all players with a season-high 25 kills (7e, 42att, .429) and tied for the lead in digs with 13. Sophomore setter Carli Lloyd was the other player to register 13 digs, adding a season-high 56 assists to her final line. Lloyd, Murrey and Cutura each checked in with double-double matches.

After getting out to a 7-1 lead in the fifth set, the Bears allowed the Irish a breath of life, slipping to a nine-all tie despite big kills from both Murrey and Hawari. Notre Dame would tie things up on three more occasions, at 10, 12 and then again at 14. Cutura's 25th kill of the night put the Bears up 15-14 with Lloyd serving. Her sidespin serve was received by Irish junior outside hitter Serenity Phillips who would subsequently get up to attack but Hawari put down a solo block to cancel out Irish hopes once and for all. Phillips was one of four Notre Dame players with at least 10 kills in the match.

The Bears fooled around with a one-point lead for much of the beginning of the fourth set but a service ace by Irish freshman outside hitter Kristen Dealy put Notre Dame ahead, 11-10. The Bears pushed back and came up with a 14-all tie when Murrey put down a kill to help Cal run off with the lead, getting out to a five-point advantage at 19-14. One of junior middle hitter Mindi Wiley's career-high 11 kills (3e, 19att, .421) gave Cal a 21-17 advantage before freshman defensive specialist/setter Ashley Roe came in for her first collegiate action. Her first play, a serve, resulted in a service ace to put the Bears up by five once more. Murrey came up with her fifth and sixth kill of the set to give Cal a 23-20 lead and then in the end, to close out a fourth-set win for the Bears with the momentum heading into the fifth and deciding set. The Bears hit .419 in the fourth, getting 17 kills (4e, 31att) and continued to block well at the net.

Notre Dame never trailed in the third set, sprinting out to a 5-0 lead before a kill from senior outside hitter/middle hitter Morgan Beck put the Bears on the board. Despite logging 16 kills and hitting .294 (6e, 34att), Cal did itself in by allowing the Irish to post a .400 attack percentage (16k, 2e, 35att).

After a sluggish first set, Notre Dame came out and put up 13 kills (3e, 27att) to register a .370 attack percentage. It was one of those Irish kills that broke a seven-all tie in the second set to put Notre Dame up for good. Solomon put up two straight kills down the left-hand side to spark the Bears on a short run that culminated in a one-point deficit (19-18) when Cutura got a tip-shot to fall to the ground. However, Cal would get no closer than a single point from there on. Notre Dame sophomore middle blocker Kellie Sciacca notched her fifth kill of the set to give the Irish set-point at 24-21. An Irish service ace effectively ended things to knot the match at one set each.

Down 15-14 in the first set, the Bears ripped off five straight points including two service aces by Lloyd to take a 19-15 lead. Although the Irish came back with two points, both on Cal errors, the Bears were already on a roll and completed an 11-2 run to close out the first set 25-17. Cal had 14 kills in the first set (4e, 25att, .400), getting eight from Cutura who had only two errors on 11 attacks (.545). Defensively, the Bears tallied three blocks and forced a total of six errors in the opening round to hold Notre Dame to just a .067 attack percentage (8k).

The Bears close out tournament play with a match against No. 16 Cal Poly (5-2, 0-0 Big West) tomorrow (Sept. 14) at noon CT. The Mustangs face No. 11 Minnesota (6-1, 0-0 Big Ten) later tonight at the Sports Pavilion.