BERKELEY – California volleyball (7-19, 0-16 Pac-12) hopes to continue its upward trajectory this week as the team returns to Haas Pavilion for its final home weekend of the season, hosting Arizona (14-13, 4-12) and Arizona State (11-17, 5-11). The Bears have participated in three straight five-set matches and are looking to ride that competitive momentum into the last four matches of the season as they seek their first conference win since Spring 2021.
Arizona currently leads the all-time series against Cal, 46-27. The Wildcats swept the Bears, 3-0, in their last meeting on Oct. 16; however, they are just 2-7 as the visiting team this season. Senior Zyanna Fellows leads Arizona with 132.0 total blocks, 21
st in the NCAA, while classmate Kamaile Hiapo tops the conference with 411 total digs.
For their part, the Sun Devils also hold the advantage in their all-time series against Cal, 39-34. The Bears suffered a 3-0 sweep at the hands of ASU on Oct. 14, but the visitors are currently on a five-game losing streak going into their match against No. 8 Stanford, scheduled three days before they head to Berkeley. Senior Ivan Isanovic has been ASU's standout player this season, leading the team with 366 kills and 417.5 points. She ranks 59
th in the nation with 1065 total attacks.
GROTE'S GLORY
Lydia Grote made Cal history in November, posting 28 kills against UCLA (Nov. 10) - the most by any Golden Bear in a single game since 2010 - and matched that total two days later against USC. In the latter match, she recorded 94 attacks for the most in one game all-time by any Cal player. She currently leads the Bears with 354 kills, 409.0 points and 4.26 points per set, the last of which ranks 89th in the nation.
TEAM LEADERS
Grote is not the only Golden Bear posting an impressive 2002 season for Cal. Junior
Tara DeSa currently ranks fourth in the Pac-12 in both total digs (340) and digs per set (3.95), while freshman
Mikayla Hayden has also made an impressive impact in her Golden Bear debut, leading the team with 88.0 total blocks (6th-most in the Pac-12) and 1.06 blocks per set (19th-best freshman in the NCAA).
USA VOLLEYBALL TAKES NOTICE
Juniors
Lydia Grote and
Leah Schmidt participated in the 2022 USA Volleyball National Team Open Program on Feb. 25-27, scoring invitations after stellar sophomore seasons. Grote's 2021 campaign included a 21-kill game (vs. Utah, Oct. 17) and a 15-kill, .344-hitting percentage outing against Washington State (Nov. 11). Schmidt, meanwhile, was named to the 2021 All-Tulane Tournament team and subsequently posted the third-most kills on the team (200) during the season as one of Cal's most prolific players.
MAEDER'S MARK
With 720 total assists and 10 double-doubles on the 2022 season thus far, sophomore
Annalea Maeder has surpassed her stellar freshman campaign with rooms to spare, in which she led the Bears with 701 assists and 8 double-doubles. Early in the 2022 season, she recorded a career-high 52 assists and 14 digs in the Bears' Sept. 2 win over Northern Arizona, as well as a 51-assist, 14-dig outing against UC Davis on Sept. 17 that put her over 300 assists on the season and 1,000 in her collegiate career. More recently, Maeder posted 50 assists and 14 digs against Oregon State (Sept. 23) and posted 51 assists against UCLA (Nov. 10). Cal volleyball's lone international student-athlete is also a star in the classroom, intending to major in molecular environmental biology, and participates in a student-run business consulting club whose clients include various Fortune 500 companies nationwide.
FRESHMAN FOUR
This year, Cal brings in four highly-touted prospects from around the country to help bolster its squad. Middle blocker
Mikayla Hayden (Buford, Ga.) was one of the best high school players in the state of Georgia, posting over 1,000 kills in her career in addition to 2 state championships and several All-Region and All-County nods. Fellow middle blocker
Sophie Scott (Portland, Ore.) earned her way onto multiple State and All-League teams, while outside hitter
Peyton DeJardin (Pasadena, Calif.) reached Third Team All-American status in 2021. Setter
Natalie Lau (San Francisco) rounds out the group, coming off a season where she earned a spot on the All-America Watch List and the All-WCAL First Team.
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