STOCKTON – The Cal volleyball team suffered a hiccup as it closed out its nonconference schedule on Saturday night. But the Golden Bears are still feeling good about themselves as they prepare to begin Pac-12 Conference play next week.

Cal saw its nine-match winning streak come to an end in a 15-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-21, 15-7 loss at Pacific at the Spanos Center. But the Bears still take a 9-2 record into its conference opener Wednesday at No. 4 Stanford.

"I'm thrilled to be 9-2," Cal coach Matt McShane said. "I told the team, if you would have told me at the start of the season we'd be 9-2, I would have been happy. I'd rather be 11-0, but I'll take 9-2."

The Bears, who lost for the first time since dropping their season-opener to UC Irvine on Aug. 25, appeared to be in good position against the Tigers after scoring the final seven points of the third set to erase a 23-18 deficit and go up 2 sets to 1. But Pacific responded in its first home match of the season.

"You always learn more from losses than wins," McShane said. "There are things we can get better at. Part of what we need to do is be more courageous. I think when we are living on the edge is when we are playing as well as we can play. If we are pushing ourselves, I think we can play with anybody."

The Bears failed to sustain the offensive efficiency they have displayed for most of the season, hitting for just a .175 percentage after entering the match hitting .281 for the season. Still, Cal found balance with four hitters reaching double-digits in kills, led by senior Antzela Dempi and junior Carmen Annevelink's 13 kills apiece.

Outside hitters Mima Mirkovic and Christine Alftin each added 10 kills. Alftin had a career-high five blocks and Mirkovic added 17 digs.

After winning the first set easily, the Bears almost pulled off a comeback in the second set as well. They trailed 23-18 before trimming the deficit to 24-23. Down 23-18 in the third, the Bears looked like they may have dealt the Tigers a crushing defeat with an inspired comeback that was highlighted by three blocks and one of three aces by Dempi.

But there would be no comeback for Cal in each of the final two sets.

"UOP is a very, very good team and for sure tonight was one of the better matches they played," McShane said. "The last couple of games, we really let them do pretty much whatever they wanted to do."

Freshman Preslie Anderson had 10 blocks for the Bears, tied for the third-most in a match by a Pac-12 player this season. It was also the most in a match by a Cal player since Lara Vukasovic had 10 against Oregon in 2013.

Cal's Pac-12 opener at Stanford on Wednesday begins at 8 p.m. and airs on the Pac-12 Networks.