CAL vs SAINT MARY'S
Thursday, Sept. 19 | 7 PM | Haas Pavilion | Berkeley, Calif.
CAL at SAINT MARY'S
Saturday, Sept. 21 | 5 PM | McKeon Pavilion | Moraga, Calif.
BERKELEY - The Bears finally open the 2019 home slate on Thursday after three consecutive weeks on the road to start the season. California has started the 2019 campaign by winning eight consecutive matches to begin the season, its best record since winning the first 13 matches in 2011.
California has a home-and-home with Bay Area foe Saint Mary's on tap for this week with the Gaels set to visit Haas Pavilion on Thursday evening at 7 pm before the Bears make the return trip to McKeon Pavilion in Moraga on Saturday at 5 pm. Cal leads the all-time series with Saint Mary's, 18-3, but the Gaels took the most recent meeting last season, 3-0, in Moraga. First-year California head coach
Sam Crosson comes full circle after serving as an assistant coach for the Gaels (2005-09) before joining Rich Feller's staff with the Bears from 2010-12.
NOTE: Haas Pavilion will be utilizing metal detectors at all entrances for events this season to screen for prohibited items.
STARTING STRONG
The Bears have opened the season with eight consecutive wins, taking tournament titles at the Rams Volleyball Classic in Fort Collins, UC Irvine Invitational in Southern California and the NDSU Classic in Fargo. Cal defeated Oklahoma (3-0), Colorado State (3-1) and Chicago State (3-1) in week one, followed by North Carolina (3-0), UNLV (3-0) and UC Irvine (3-0) in week two and raced past Buffalo (3-0) and North Dakota State (3-1) a week ago. California earned a win in one of the toughest road venues in the country to open the season, defeating host Colorado State in front of 1,836 fans at Moby Arena. The Rams have made 24 consecutive NCAA Tournaments and are ranked 22nd in the AVCA week three poll.
PERFECT TEN
California is one of just ten NCAA Division I teams left in the country without a defeat on their schedule this season. Baylor, Coastal Carolina, Hawai'i, Memphis, Missouri, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Robert Morris, and Temple remain undefeated with Cal.
KEEP CLIMBING
The Bears enter week three with a national ranking, checking in at No. 24 in the AVCA Coaches Poll after reeling off eight wins in a row to begin the season. This week marks the first time Cal has been ranked in the poll since Nov. 18, 2013, when the Bears were ranked No. 23. After not receiving a single vote in the preseason version of the poll, California received votes in both the week one and week two rankings before breaking into the Top 25 in week three.
MADDIE SHINES
Senior
Maddie Haynes came on strong in Irvine, turning in the best three-match stretch of her career. Haynes recored a team-high 14 kills in the win over North Carolina with a career-best .542 hitting percentage on 24 swings. She set her second personal best in as many days with four service aces against UNLV and finished with 27 kills over the three-match weekend tournament.
RENNIE REIGNS
Redshirt senior
Savannah Rennie has opened the season with a bang, taking home Rams Volleyball Classic MVP and Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week honors in week one, followed by NDSU Classic All-Tournament Team recognition. Finally at full strength for the first time in her Cal career after overcoming a liver transplant, followed by post-transplant non-Hodgkin lymphoma during her first four years as a Bear, Rennie tallied 27 kills and 13 block assists, while recording a combined hitting percentage of .500 in Cal's three wins to open the season. She totaled 27 kills, 14 blocks and 10 digs in 27 sets a year ago.
ALL-TOURNAMENT DUO
The Bears had two others named to the Rams Volleyball Classic All-Tournament Team in junior outside hitter
Mima Mirkovic and senior opposite hitter
Bailee Huizenga. Mirkovic led the Bears with 34 kills, to go along with seven blocks and three aces over the weekend. She is also second on the team with 42 digs through the first three matches. Huizenga racked up 31 kills while adding 10 block assists in three matches, and notched her first-career double-double in the 3-1 victory over Colorado State with 12 kills and 12 digs.
MIMA MANIA
Mima Mirkovic, a junior outside hitter and 2018 All-Pac-12 honorable mention honoree opened her 2019 campaign strong at the Rams Volleyball Classic. Mirkovic was named to the All-Tournament Team after leading the Bears with 34 kills, to go along with seven blocks and three aces over the weekend. She is
also second on the team with 42 digs through the first three matches. Mirkovic recorded the 24th double-double of her career in the win over Colorado State, tallying 20 kills with 18 digs, the fourth time in her career she has notched at least 20 kills in a match.
SETTING IT UP
Junior
Isabel Potter and sophomore
Jade Blevins both are back for the Bears this season after earning a lot of playing time at setter in 2018. Potter, a product of Moline, Ill., tallied a team-high 844 assists last season to average 7.21 per set. She also led the team with 32 aces, while recording 18 blocks. A Laguna Beach native, Blevins returns after a successful rookie campaign where she notched 413 assists (5.36 per set) and 14 aces.
FRESHMEN DEBUT
California's two freshmen made their Bear debuts in Colorado as
Deniz Milli and
Sydney Lilomaiava both earned time and got their names in the stat book against Chicago State. Milli recorded her first collegiate kill after coming on in the fourth set and Lilomaiava followed by coming onto the court and tallying her first-career block.
