OREM, UTAH – California volleyball (3-2) walked into Lockhart Arena on Friday afternoon aiming to make a statement against Northern Arizona (1-3) – and make a statement they did, putting together a solid offensive performance for a 3-0 sweep to close out the Utah Valley Tournament. The win brings the all-time series between the two squads to 4-0 in favor of the Bears.

Sophomore Annalea Maeder posted a new career high of 52 assists and tied her career high of 14 digs for the Bears' second double-double of the season. Four different Bears – Lydia Grote (17 K), Leah Schmidt (15 K), Mikayla Hayden (11 K) and Sam Taumoepeau (11 K) – accumulated double-digit kills, leaving Cal with high hopes as it returns to Berkeley for its first home slate of play.

Cal and Northern Arizona kicked off the first set with a ferocious back-and-forth effort punctuated by kills as opposed to errors, leading to a quick 7-7 tie before NAU attempted to start pulling ahead. The Bears were not about to let that happen, however – Cal went on an incredible 9-0 scoring run to close out the 25-21 victory, which included three straight kills from Hayden and four straight from Grote.

Once the Bears had a taste of a big scoring run, they decided that they wanted more in the second set. Down 2-4 early on, Taumoepeau and freshman Sophie Scott provided the bulk of the action in a roaring 6-0 offensive streak, assisted at every turn by Maeder. They followed that up with another 5-0 run just two scores later, eventually holding on for the 25-21 win despite a pair of comeback efforts from NAU. It was Cal's best set of the afternoon, hitting .350 on 40 attacks.

The Lumberjacks, losing by two sets, were not going down easily – they put together a gritty performance in the third set that forced the Bears to dig deep for an extra boost to keep their momentum going. Tied at 16 apiece, it was anyone's guess as to which team would blow the set wide open; every time Cal would score two or three straight, the Lumberjacks would respond with a few points of their own. In the end, the final set went right down to the wire, forcing the Bears to score an extra point for the satisfying final 26-24 victory.
 
UP NEXT
California (3-2) will compete at Haas Pavilion for the first time this season as it hosts the Cal Tournament, welcoming Utah Tech (2-1), Tennessee State (0-2) and Nevada (1-3) to Berkeley on Sept. 9-10.
 
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