Bears Travel South For UC Irvine Invitational

Friday, September 6

Irvine, CA

3:00 PM

California

North Carolina

9/4/2019 4:28 PM | Volleyball

Cal Game Notes UNC Live Stream UNLV Live Stream UC Irvine Live Stream Live Stats

Cal Faces North Carolina, UNLV And The Host Anteaters.

By: Cal Athletics

CAL vs NORTH CAROLINA
Friday, Sept. 6 | 3 PM PT | Bren Events Center | Irvine, Calif.

CAL vs UNLV
Saturday, Sept. 7 | 10 AM PT | Bren Events Center | Irvine, Calif.

CAL at UC IRVINE
Saturday, Sept. 7 | 7 PM PT | Bren Events Center | Irvine, Calif.

BERKELEY - The Bears take to the road for the second time in as many weeks this season, heading to Southern California for the UC Irvine Invitational to take on North Carolina, UNLV and host UC Irvine inside the Bren Events Center. Cal faces North Carolina for the first time since the 2013 season when the Bears swept the Heels 3-0 in the NCAA Tournament opening round, the last of four-straight meetings between the teams in the postseason. California leads the all-time series with UNC 3-2. The Bears and Rebels meet for only the second time and first since 1984, a 3-2 Cal victory. Cal and UC Irvine have met 15 times with the Bears leading the series 10-5. The Anteaters won the most recent matchup, a 3-1 victory in 2017.

STARTING STRONG
The Bears opened the season with three-straight wins to take the tournament title at the Rams Volleyball Classic in Fort Collins last week, defeating Oklahoma (3-0), Colorado State (3-1) and Chicago State (3-1). California earned a win in one of the toughest road venues in the country, defeating the host Rams in front of 1,836 fans at Moby Arena. Colorado State has made 24 consecutive NCAA Tournaments and was receiving votes in the AVCA Preseason Poll.

RENNIE REIGNS
Redshirt senior Savannah Rennie opened the season with a bang, taking home Rams Volleyball Classic MVP and Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week honors last week. Finally at full strength for the first time in her Cal career after overcoming a liver transplant, followed by 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.

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.

EXPERIENCE RETURNS
The Bears welcome back four other seniors this season, including opposite hitter Bailee Huizenga, defensive specialists Emma Smith and Morgan Wright and outside hitter Maddie Haynes.

FRESHMEN DEBUT
California's two freshmen made their Bear debuts last weekend in Colorado as Deniz Milli and Sydney Lilomaiava both earned time and got their names in the statbook 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.

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.

ALL-PAC-12 RETURNERS
Cal returns a strong core for the 2019 season, including junior outside hitter Mima Mirkovic, junior middle blocker Preslie Anderson and sophomore middle blocker Lauren Forte, who each earned All-Pac-12 honorable mention a season ago. Mirkovic led the Bears with 405 kills last season, averaging 3.46 per set and had a team-high 359 digs. Forte was named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman team after leading Cal with 82 blocks, including 26 solo to go along with 161 kills. Anderson totaled 240 kills (2.05 per set), 94 blocks and 16 aces in 2018.