Dec. 16, 2010

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The seventh-seeded California volleyball team (30-3) defeated sixth-seeded USC (29-5) in three sets (25-14, 25-17, 25-20) on Thursday, Dec. 16, in the 2010 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship semifinal at the Sprint Center to advance to its first-ever national championship match. The Golden Bears will face fourth-seeded three-time defending champion Penn State (31-5) in the championship final at 5:30 p.m. PT on Saturday, Dec. 18. The match will be broadcast by ESPN2 and will be carried live on ESPN3.com.

"That was pretty efficient volleyball on our side of the net," said head coach Rich Feller. "This team was well prepared and very calm. They took a lot of fire out there and made adjustments. They were very business-like in what they did tonight, and they were very focused. I'm proud of the way they executed the game plan."

The Bears are undefeated in 15 sets in the NCAA tournament and secured a program-best 30th win as they exacted revenge on the Women of Troy. USC had defeated the Bears in two regular-season matches. Cal moved to 21-0 in three-set matches this season in its sixth-straight victory.

Junior outside hitter Tarah Murrey became just the third Bear to log 600 kills in a season as she led all players with 23 (4e, 46att, .413). Former outside hitter Hana Cutura had 628 in 2009, and Mia Jerkov had 701 in 2003. Murrey also had 14 digs to tack up her 11th double-double of the year. Senior setter Carli Lloyd carved up the USC defense as she put up 39 assists and notched her 12th double-double with a match-high 16 digs. Lloyd had the Bears on a roll as she notched the 10th-best single-season mark for assists at Cal (1,351) to guide her team to a .297 hitting percentage (50k, 15e, 118att).

Freshman outside hitter Adrienne Gehan kept the Trojans on their toes as she posted her 10th double-digit night with 14 kills (3e, 28att) to go with a .393 attack rate. Sophomore middle hitter Shannon Hawari did damage with six kills (3e, 14att, .214) and three blocks to help keep the USC attack to a .107 percentage (32k, 19e, 121att). Sophomore libero Robin Rostratter added 12 digs and six assists for the Bears.

USC struggled to find its groove and hit negative in the opening stanza. Junior outside hitter Alex Jupiter led her team with eight kills (2e, 33att, .182) and 12 digs, but it wasn't enough as the Bears neutralized the Trojans' other left-side weapon. Freshman outside hitter Falyn Fonoimoana took 34 swings to get just six kills and committed 11 errors to net a negative .147 attack rate. On the right side, USC found a spark in sophomore Katie Fuller, who put up seven kills (1e, 15att, .400), but the Bears out-dug the Trojans, 60-46, to pull away easily.

The Bears never trailed in the first set, and went ahead by nine points on a 7-0 run off serves by Murrey that culminated in a cross-court kill by Gehan. Fonoimoana's reply snapped the Cal run, but the Bears continued to push and ripped open an 11-point gash at 20-9 on a quick-set kill by Hawari. The Trojans traded points with Cal, but the Bears came up with set-point at 24-13 when Gehan and Brown teamed up to reject an attack by Williams. Murrey's pass netted her a set from Lloyd as she took a kill off the Trojan block out of the back row to end the set, 25-14. The Bears put up 12 kills (5e) on 30 swings for a .233 hitting percentage and held USC to a negative .027 outing on 37 attacks (9k, 10e).

USC took the first points of the second set, but Murrey's sixth kill of an 8-2 Cal run put the Bears ahead by four points. Gehan went on a roll to net four kills in six plays before Murrey capped another run with her back-row kill shot on a set from Rostratter to put the Bears up, 15-7. USC made a push, but was never able to get any closer than six points before Cal went up, 21-14, on a cut shot by Murrey. Murrey went off the block for a 23-14 lead with her 11th kill of the set. The Trojans fell off their horse as errors surrendered the final two points of the set to the Bears. Cal logged 18 kills (6e) on 38 attacks to post a .316 rate and held down the USC attack to the tune of a .083 hitting percentage (8k, 5e) on 36 swings.

The third set opened up close, but the lead changed just twice as Cal wrestled it away for good on a high-hands kill by Gehan. USC stayed in striking distance and came within a point at 11-10 as Fuller logged two straight kills, but Hawari's quick-set kill gave the Bears a 15-12 lead. The Women of Troy made another push to climb within two points, 18-16, on a kill by junior middle blocker Lauren Williams, but Murrey got three consecutive kills to make the score, 21-16. Murrey got another kill to give the Bears 23 points, but it was Gehan's shot off the USC block that sealed the three-set win for the Bears, 25-20. Cal maintained its offensive potency with 20 kills (4e, 50att) for a .320 hitting percentage and stayed far enough in front of a .229 USC (15k, 4e, 48att) to come up with the five-point victory.

Cal will face Penn State for just the fourth time in school history. The other three times the teams have met, however, have been in each of the last three years. The Nittany Lions won the first of their three consecutive championships by defeating the Bears, 3-0, in the 2007 NCAA semifinal and eliminated Cal from the tournament in regional championship matches in 2008 and 2009. Beth Mowins will call the action and Karch Kiraly will provide color commentary when the teams take the court at Sprint Center for the NCAA title on Saturday. Please visit CalBears.com or NCAA.com for more information.