Nov. 5, 2010
Box Score (HTML) | Box Score (PDF) 
BERKELEY - The No. 2-ranked California volleyball team (20-2, 10-2 Pac-10) fell in an upset to No. 7 USC (20-3, 9-3 Pac-10) in four sets, 25-21, 20-25, 25-20, 25-18, at Haas Pavilion on Friday, Nov. 5. The Golden Bears were unable to exact revenge on the only team that has defeated them season as the Women of Troy posted a .303 hitting percentage (64k, 20e, 145att) in the match.
Junior outside hitter Tarah Murrey led the Cal offense with 21 kills (6e, 47att, .319) and had nine digs and three blocks. Murrey's sixth kill of the night was the 1,000th of her career. She became just the 14th Cal player to cross the 1,000-kill plateau and surpassed Leah Young to rank 13th on the all-time list with 1,015 by the night's end.
Sophomore middle hitter Kat Brown tied her career high with 12 kills (3e, 23att, .391) and sophomore opposite hitter Correy Johnson tied her season high with 12 kills (4e, 24att, .333). Brown also put up four blocks to lead the Bears. Senior setter Carli Lloyd guided Cal to a .239 hitting percentage with 49 assists (57k, 23e, 142att) and added 10 digs for her sixth double-double of the season.
USC freshman outside hitter Falyn Fonoimoana led the Women of Troy with 20 kills (6e, 39att, .359) and tied for team-high honors with 13 digs. The Trojans also got 17 kills (8e, 45att, .200) from junior outside hitter Alex Jupiter and 11 kills (2e, 21att, .429) from junior middle blocker Lauren Williams. Williams tied for match-high honors with five blocks. Jupiter also had five blocks; two of them solo.
The middle hitters from both teams battled for supremacy in the first set as USC's accounted for half of its kills (seven) and Cal's for seven out of 13. The Bears held the first lead of the set, but the Women of Troy wrestled that lead away at 7-6 as Jupiter went cross-court for a kill. USC went in front by as many as three points, but Johnson stepped out on a slide play to earn a kill and pull the set into a 14-all tie. The Trojans rolled away with a 7-2 run to take a 21-16 lead on a kill by Williams and finished off the set, 25-21. USC put up a .212 hitting percentage (14k, 7e, 33att) in the first set and held the Bears to a .171 rate (13k, 7e) on 36 swings.
The second set was tied six times before the Bears seized the lead for good on a kill by Brown. Murrey earned her 1,000th career kill to give the Bears a 13-10 lead before freshman outside hitter Adrienne Gehan went up alone to reject an attack by USC's freshman middle Alexis Olgard for a 15-11 Cal lead. The Bears stayed on top the rest of the way and went up by five at 21-16 when Murrey and Brown teamed up to block Jupiter. Lloyd dumped a pass for a 23-18 lead and set the slide to Johnson for set point at 24-19. Murrey finished the set off, 25-20, with a shot off the Trojan block. The Bears put down 17 kills in the second set (5e) on 36 swings for a .333 hitting percentage, and held USC to a .139 rate (12k, 7e, 36att).
Jupiter sent a kill down the line to break the 12th tie of the third set for a 13-12 USC lead. The Women of Troy pushed to gain a four-point advantage at 17-13 as Jupiter tooled her shot off the Cal block. The Bears fought to climb within two points at 19-17 when Johnson connected with Lloyd on a slide play for a kill down the line, but the Trojan attack staved off Cal's comeback bid with strong blocking at the net. Murrey's kill out of the back row put the Bears down just two at 21-19, but USC finished things off with a 25-20 win. The Women of Troy went up, 2-1, in the match with a scorching .386 hitting percentage in the third set, as they netted 20 kills (3e) on 44 swings. The Bears put up 14 kills (4e, 39att) to post a .256 attack rate.
Cal surrendered the fourth-set lead to USC for good at 8-7 as Fonoimoana earned her second kill of the set off the block. Fonoimoana carried the Women of Troy to a 25-18 win as she earned 10 points in the final stanza with eight kills (1e, 12att, .583) and two solo blocks. Though Cal trailed, it didn't give up and tied the set for the last time at 14-all as Gehan earned a kill on a cut shot. A pair of kills by Jupiter brought USC back in front by two points at 16-14. Murrey went to work from the outside to help get the Bears within two points, again, at 20-18, but the Trojans secured the win by taking the next five points. USC put up a .469 hitting percentage in the fourth set (18k, 3e) on 32 attacks and held the Cal attack to just 13 kills (7e, .188) on 32 attacks.
The Bears remain home to host No. 10 UCLA (17-6, 7-5 Pac-10) in a 7 p.m. PT match at Haas Pavilion on Saturday, Nov. 6. The Bruins fell in four sets (25-23, 25-16, 24-26, 25-23) to No. 3 Stanford earlier tonight at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif. The Cal-UCLA match will be broadcast on a tape delay basis by Fox Sports Net. Please check your local listings for times and availability.
