BERKELEY – California volleyball welcomed in-state rival UCLA to Haas Pavilion on Friday night, hoping to earn its second Pac-12 win of the season, but the Bruins (10-7, 2-5 Pac-12) were seeking a second Pac-12 win of their own and eventually came out with the victory, sweeping the Golden Bears (12-6, 1-6 Pac-12) in straight sets.
 
Sophomore Mikayla Hayden posted yet another standout performance for Cal, recording 11 kills on .556 hitting and three blocks, while freshmen Xuemeng (Maggie) Li and Ashley Li each had 10 kills of their own. Senior Tara DeSa reached her ninth straight match with double-digit digs (13); meanwhile, redshirt sophomore Paige Morningstar only just missed out on her first career double-double with 10 digs and nine assists, the former of which doubled her career high. Fellow redshirt sophomore Ava Mehrten paced all players with five total blocks.
 
As a team, the Bears avoided the struggles at the service line that had plagued them as of late, matching UCLA with four aces to four errors, but Cal hit just .138 on the match to the Bruins' .256.
 
Hayden (5-for-7, .714), Ashley Li (five kills) and Morningstar (seven digs) contributed in a big way to the first set, keeping the Bears in the hunt despite the Blue & Gold finding itself in an early hole. Cal eventually came back from five points down to tie the score at 24 apiece, courtesy of a late 4-0 run capped off by a solo block from Mehrten that sent the Haas Pavilion crowd into an uproar – UCLA, however, scored the next two points to win that set and proceeded to dominate the second set, 25-13, on .444 hitting.
 
Although the Bears stayed neck-and-neck with the Bruins in the third set, which featured no fewer than seven kills from Maggie Li, an early 6-0 run for UCLA swung the momentum in the visitors' favor and allowed them to take the lead for good despite Cal coming within one point on four separate occasions. Eventually, it was a solo block from UCLA senior Anna Dodson that sealed the match in favor of the Bruins, 25-23.
 
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The Bears will host USC (11-6, 5-2 Pac-12) at Haas Pavilion on Sunday at 2 p.m. PT. The first 500 fans in attendance will receive a free water bottle as part of a celebration of Cal's women's teams.
 
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