BERKELEY-  California fell to 13th-ranked USC in four sets (25-23, 22-25, 21-25, 26-28) at Haas Pavilion on Sunday afternoon. The Golden Bears finished their first Pac-12 homestand still searching for their first league win of the season. Cal clinched the first set, but ultimately were just short in the final three sets coming within four points in set 3 and within two points in sets 2 and 4.

The Bears were led by sophomores Mima Mirkovic and Preslie Anderson who combined for 23 kills and 13 digs. Mirkovic and Anderson have continued their strong play overall and provided an offensive spark for the Bears. Also contributing to the Cal offense was junior Bailee Huizenga who, along with Anderson, recorded a team-high 12 kills of her own off the bench.

Setters Isabel Potter and Jade Blevins had a combined 49 assists during Sunday's defensive tester, proving to be a dynamic duo for Cal on both sides of the ball against USC. Potter contributed 12 digs, a career best, while Blevins, a freshman, led the Bears with 16 digs.  

"75 percent of this weekend was executed, however in this conference you have to be at 90-95 percent," said head coach Jennifer Dorr. "It's a huge improvement weekend by weekend, but we have to execute for longer.
 
"We have to go back and get comfortable, watch film and execute the game-plan through the entire match," Dorr added. " Next week will be tough, but we will get ourselves prepared moving forward."

Also highlighting the defensive effort was redshirt freshman Lauren Forte, who contributed with 6.0 total blocks over the course of the four sets and currently ranks second in the Pac-12 averaging 1.52 blocks per set.  

Cal will have its first Pac-12 road contest against the No. 23 Buffalos of Colorado in Boulder on Friday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. (PT) and then will see the No. 25 Utah Utes on Sunday, Oct. 7 at 1 p.m. in Salt Lake City.