BERKELEY – The Cal beach volleyball team is ranked No. 14 in the AVCA Collegiate Beach Volleyball Preseason Poll that was released Monday.

The Bears, who were ranked throughout most of last season in the DiG Magazine Top-20, are making their first appearance in the AVCA Poll, which expanded from 10 to 15 teams this season.

Cal, which finished last season 17-11 and ranked No. 16 by DiG Magazine, returns four of their top six players from 2016. Sophomore Mia Merino was named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team last year after spending the entire season on the team's No. 1 pair. Junior Bryce Bark went 19-10 last season as part of the No. 2 pair while sophomores Grace Campbell and Olivia Rodberg were also 19-10 on Cal's No. 3 court.

The Bears have an impressive class of freshmen that figures to push for immediately playing time, including AVCA All-American honorable mention Camille Stepanof and USA High Performance participant Madison Dueck.

Cal commences the 2017 season March 4-5 at the Stanford Tournament.