Oct. 1, 2011

Final Stats |  Notes

BERKELEY - The No. 4 California volleyball team earned itself a 3-1 victory over Arizona State on Saturday evening at Haas Pavilion, where the Golden Bears remain undefeated. Christina Higgins and Tarah Murrey both put up 16 kills to lead Cal to victory - 25-19, 25-23, 18-25 and 25-15.

With their second conference victory in as many days, the Bears improve to 15-2 overall and 5-2 in the Pac-12 while the Sun Devils are still winless in conference play at 0-6 and fall to 4-11 overall.

"Hitting out of system worked for us because we were out of system a lot," Cal head coach Rich Feller said on what worked well for the Bears. "Fortunately, Elly was able to get her hands on the ball and put up a pretty decent set most of the time. Finally our blocking defense started to work well. The match was kind of a struggle. Our passing was not very good, which allowed other things to go the wrong way."

Overall, the Bears out hit the Sun Devils, .325-.177. Tarah Murrey led the Bears (with more than two attempts) by hitting .351 (16k, 3e, 37att). Both Shannon Hawari and Correy Johnson chipped in seven kills apiece to Cal's total of 57. Along with Murrey, Christina Higgins notched an impressive 16 kills - a new career high.

"I think that was great," Feller said of Higgins. "She had a great weekend. Tonight, she put forth an outstanding performance and I hope it's just one of many to come."

Three different Bears made double-digit digs with Robin Rostratter leading the way with 25. Barrett had 14 and Murrey tallied 10 digs.

Set One - Cal 25, ASU 19:

With ASU starting with a slight lead, it would not be until the scoreboard said 7-6 before the Bears could pull ahead. The set saw its third and final tie at 10-10, at which point the Bears inched themselves ahead. After a couple of desperate digs by the Sun Devils, Tarah Murrey put down a stellar kill to push Cal's lead to 13-10. A kill by Murrey with  Robin Rostratter on the assist gave the Bears a 15-11 lead. After a Cal error brought the Sun Devils within three at 17-14, the Bears put up three unanswered points courtesy of kills from Christina Higgins and Shannon Hawari along with an ace by Kat Brown. Coming out of a timeout, the Sun Devils played slightly inspired volleyball, twice coming within four at 21-17 and 22-18. After a kill by Elly Barrett, a Correy Johnson tip gave the Bears set point at 25-19.

Set One Highlights:

• The Bears capitalized on sub-par serving by the Sun Devils, who dished up four service errors
• Cal relied on a balanced attack with three different Bears - Murrey, Hawari and Higgins - getting four kills
• Elly Barrett had five digs and Robin Rostratter added two assists

Set Two - Cal 25, ASU 23:

After a Kat Brown kill off an Elly Barrett back set put the Bears up, 2-0, a 4-2 run handed the Sun Devils an 8-4 lead and prompted a Cal timeout. In a perceptible shift in momentum, the Bears came out firing after the timeout to push ahead, 9-8. Cal maintained its lead, but Arizona State kept things close until the Sun Devils knotted things at 19-19. Lauren Loerch made the dig and then got the kill to push the Bears ahead, 23-21. ASU tied things at 23-23 with back-to-back kills, but a pair of Christina Higgins' kills gave the Bears the second set.

Set Two Highlights:

• Higgins hit .625 with five kills in eight attempts with no errors
• Both Cal's Murrey and ASU's Nora Tuioti-Mariner put up five kills with Ashley Kastl getting a set-best six

Set Three - ASU 25, Cal 18:

Elly Barrett completed her double-double when her 10th dig of the night, allowing Rostratter to set up Murrey for a kill that kept the Bears in the lead, 5-4. That advantage would be short-lived for Malia Bachynski served up two aces for her Sun Devils to move into the lead, 7-5. Higgins tied things at seven all with a kill with Murrey assisting. With a 5-1 run, ASU managed its highest margin of six at 18-12. After a Cal timeout at 18-12, the Sun Devils posted a 7-5 run to come away with the set victory.

Set Three Highlights:

• Loerch made five of her seven digs of the evening in set three alone
• Higgins and Murrey once again tied for the team-high in kills with four apiece

Set Four - Cal 25, ASU 15:

The wheels began to fall off for the Sun Devils, who handed the Bears two points off errors. Hawari and Higgins teamed for three straight Cal points, bringing things to 6-2. Tuioti-Mariner and Alexis Pinson stemmed what had been a 5-0 Cal run with a block to bring things to 7-3, still in favor of the Bears. Murrey made two great digs to keep the point alive before Higgins put down her 15th kill to double up the Sun Devils, 16-8. Barrett and Hawari teamed for a block to give Cal a 10-pont lead at 21-11. Johnson finished the match off with her second set point of the night.

Set Four Highlights:

• Correy Johnson hit a team-high .800 with four kills in five swings
• Murrey made four digs with Barrett and Rostratter adding three apiece
• ASU paid dearly for its 11 errors, hitting a paltry -.129, compared to Cal's .231

Next Time on the Court:

The Bears take to the friendly skies in their next weekend outing - flying north to Oregon. On Oct. 7, the Bears will face off against the Ducks of Oregon in Eugene at 7 p.m. In their first Sunday match of the season, Cal plays Oregon State on Oct. 9 at 1 p.m. before returning home.