VB11/28/2015 1:57 AM | By: Cal Athletics
Bears Close Season With Loss At No. 1 USC
LOS ANGELES – The Cal volleyball team closed out the 2015 season with a 25-11, 25-21, 25-19 loss at No. 1 USC on Friday afternoon at the Galen Center.
The Bears finish the year with an overall record of 9-21, 3-17 in the Pac-12.
Sophomore Antzela Dempi led the Bears with seven kills while sophomore Christine Alftin added six kills and seven digs. Seniors Lillian Schonewise and Lara Vukasovic each had five kills in their final match at Cal.
The Bears won the first point of the first set but the Trojans (30-2, 18-2) then reeled off seven points in a row. USC eventually extended to a 17-4 lead and cruised to the win.
Cal was much more competitive in each of the final two sets. The Bears took an 9-6 lead in the second set after a block by Dempi and Schonewise but the Trojans scored four in a row to go in front. The set went back and forth from there until USC snapped a 16-16 tie by scoring five of the next seven points to lead 21-18. The Trojans kept that breathing room the rest of the set.
The Bears got off to another strong set in the third set, establishing an 8-5 lead after an ace by junior setter Alyssa Jensen. Cal maintained the lead for much of the set, and still led 17-14 after a kill by Vukasovic. But USC proceeded to score six points in a row to take a 20-17 lead. The Bears battled back, though, trimming the deficit to 20-19 on a kill by Schonewise and a USC hitting error. But the Trojans scored the final five points of the match to close it out.
Schonewise finished the season with a .372 hitting percentage, the sixth-best single-season mark in Cal history. She also closed out her career with a .325 hitting percentage, the fourth-best mark ever at Cal.
Junior libero Maddy Kerr finished Friday's match with seven digs to give her 459 for the season, the ninth-highest single-season total in Cal history. Kerr now holds the eighth, ninth and 10th-best single-season dig marks by a Golden Bear.
Along with Schonewise and Vukasovic, injured seniors Nikki Gombar and Mary McKennon also closed out their Cal careers on Friday. The Bears have signed U.S. Youth National Team outside hitter Maddie Haynes from Rocklin High School, and she will enroll at Cal for the spring semester and play for the Bears in 2016.
