BERKELEY – Senior
Maddie Haynes recorded a new-career high 20 kills in her final appearance at Haas Pavilion on senior day, but No. 20 Cal came up short in a 16-25, 22-25, 25-21, 20-25 loss to USC on Sunday.
Fellow senior
Bailee Huizenga added 11 kills for the Bears, while sophomore
Lauren Forte tallied 10 finishes and sophomore
Makana Meyer put away eight kills for Cal.
Cal drops to 20-6 overall and 10-6 in Pac-12 play, while USC improves to 15-11 overall and 9-7 in conference play.
Playing without junior outside hitter
Mima Mirkovic after she went down with an injury in the first set against UCLA on Friday, Cal started slow in the opening set as USC jumped out to an early lead. The Bears fought back in the second set, battling USC to ten tied scores and six lead changes, taking several two-point leads in the frame before the Trojans closed it out.
Cal answered in the third set behind .425 efficiency, using a 5-0 run to go up 21-17. After USC fought off three set points, the Bears ended the frame on a kill from Meyer to make it 2-1 in the match.
The Trojans jumped out quickly in the fourth set to a 5-1 lead, forcing Cal to take a timeout. California battled back out of the timeout, however, tying the set at 11 on a Huizenga service ace. Falling behind by as many as four points the Bears got to within one at 19-18 after a kill from Huizenga, but the Trojans had too much down the stretch and finished off the match.
Up Next: Cal travels to Boulder for a 6 p.m. PT first serve against Colorado on Friday, Nov. 22 at the CU Events Center.
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