BERKELEY - No. 21 California volleyball earned its first Pac-12 win of the season in a 25-23, 22-25, 25-19, 18-25, 15-4 victory over Washington State at Haas Pavilion on Saturday afternoon. 

The Bears (11-1, 1-1) rallied behind a fifth double-double of the season from junior Mima Mirkovic with 14 kills and 12 digs and a season-high 13 kills from junior Preslie Anderson, who hit .435 in the match. Senior libero Emma Smith added a career-high 24 digs for Cal as Washington State (12-2, 1-1) suffered its first conference loss after beating No. 8 Washington on Wednesday. 

"Our passing has been on a lot and when that's the case I get a lot of great opportunities," Anderson said. "It starts with a pass, but the setters have done a really good job at spreading it out. That opens the middle of the court for me and since our pins are doing so well, the blockers have to pay attention to them just as much as me. It's been about the opportunities I'm given and that starts with the first and second contacts on our side." 

Washington State began the match strong, jumping out to a six-point lead twice in the first set. The Bears responded, however, using a 13-0 run to take control of the opening frame and take the early lead in the match. The Cougars battled back to take the second set, but Cal used a 4-0 run in the third to turn a one-point deficit into a 19-16 advantage and the Bears put it away from there to grab a 2-1 lead in the match.  

After WSU won the fourth set, California re-took the momentum early in the deciding fifth set and hit .600 in the final frame to post a dominant 15-4 win in the set and the match.  

"This was a good Pac-12 battle, we always tell our team to expect that in conference," Cal head coach Sam Crosson said. "With Washington State coming in we were expecting a really tough serving team and a good blocking team. That's the way they've been scoring a lot of points. It was a back-and-forth match with a couple close sets, but good resilience from our group and ability to mentally control the fifth set. I actually thought in the fifth set when there is a potential for more perceived pressure, we actually seemed more calm. That's a very reassuring position to be in with this team. I'm pleased with the outcome from the players perspective to see the resilience pay off, but we need to address a few things with finding our rhythm offensively." 

Senior Maddie Haynes added 12 kills, while fellow senior Savannah Rennie totaled six kills and 12 digs. Sophomore Lauren Forte recorded nine kills on 14 swings to go along with five block assists.  Jocelyn Urias led the Cougars with a match-high 18 kills in the loss.

Cal out-hit WSU .238-.123 and notched 59 kills to the Cougars' 52. The Bears recorded 85 digs compared to just 61 for Washington State. The match had 22 tie scores and eight lead changes. 

"Heading back out to the road we need to reset our mindsets come Monday," Anderson said. "Now that we've started Pac-12 play we need to be ready for every match to come. We don't change the way we prepare and practice, we've been doing this since the first day of the season. We need to be ready for more five set battles because I think any team can win on any given day in the Pac. If we come out ready to go this week it'll be good for us in the long run as we go forward." 

Up Next: The Bears travel to Oregon State for a 6 p.m. first serve in Corvallis at Gill Coliseum on Friday, October 4 and face Oregon at 1 p.m. on Sunday, October 6 at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene.