BERKELEY – No. 11 California beach volleyball heads to Tucson for four matches this weekend coming off their most impressive win of the year.
 
Cal defeated No. 6 Hawaii on a windy afternoon in Davis on Tuesday this week. Cal also defeated the host UC Davis in their first match in 16 days. Those wins propel the Bears into the weekend matchups vs. No. 4 UCLA, Washington, Oregon and Utah at Bear Down Beach in Tucson, Arizona.
 
All four matches this weekend will be broadcast on Pac-12 Networks Bay Area and are available to watch on Pac-12.com or the Pac-12 Now App.
 
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Saturday, March 27 - Tucson, Arizona
9 a.m. PT - #4 UCLA - Pac-12 Networks Bay Area
3:15 p.m. PT – Washington - Pac-12 Networks Bay Area
 
Sunday, March 28 - Tucson, Arizona
8:00 a.m. PT – Oregon - Pac-12 Networks Bay Area         
11:30 a.m. PT – Utah - Pac-12 Networks Bay Area            
 
CAL PLAYS SIX MATCHES THIS WEEK 
- Cal played a midweek doubleheader on Tuesday after having 16 days between games.
- Cal returned to action by defeating UC Davis, 3-2, and #6 Hawaii, 4-1, on a windy day in Davis that saw gusts of 20 miles per hour. The Bears combatted the weather and the opponent to grab two wins.
- The win over Hawaii was the fifth top-10 win in program history and Cal's first-ever win over Hawaii.
- Cal had an 11-match winning streak snapped in their loss to UCLA, that last time these two teams played at the beginning of March but the 11 game streak matched a program best, tied with the 11-match winning from Feb. 24-March 17, 2018.
- All-time, Cal is 0-8 against UCLA, but the Bears have won six straight vs. Washington and have not lost vs. either Utah (3 wins) or Oregon (7 games).
- Cal swept Oregon earlier this year as the Bears outscored Oregon 210-111 across the five pairs as the Bears didn't lose a set to win their seventh straight matchup over the Ducks.
 
BEARS GET AS HIGH AS EIGHTH IN POLL
- After one week of action, the Bears moved up to eighth in the AVCA rankings, the highest ranking in program history.
- Cal is currently ranked 11th in the poll and has been ranked in the top 12 in every poll since April 23, 2018, a span of 1065 straight days to Saturday's opener.
 
RETURNING EXPERIENCE
- Cal returns six of the 10 players that were in the 2020 lineup for all 10 matches, including three of the four members of the Bears' top two pairs: Mima Mirkovic, Caroline Schafer and Jordan Polo.
- Mirkovic was named an honorable mention All-America in 2019, while Polo was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year.
- The Bears are also led by four seniors who have a combined 311 matches of experience: Mirkovic (76), Schafer (78), Alexia Inman (80) and Maddie Micheletti (77).
- Cal pairs that experience with a talented group of youngsters: sophomore Ainsley Radell and freshman Brooke Buchner were both AVCA High School All-Americans.
- In Cal's lineup vs. UC Davis and Hawaii, there were four players who hadn't played before this year: Kate Bierly (7 career games), Brooke Buchner (7), Grace Paulson (1) and Katie Smoot (1).