BERKELEY – California volleyball put up its fiercest fight yet against a top-10 opponent this season, taking No. 6 Oregon to five sets at Haas Pavilion on Saturday. The Golden Bears (15-12, 4-12 Pac-12) left everything out on the court against the Ducks (22-5, 12-4), coming within just two points of the upset before the visitors sealed the 3-2 win.
Senior libero
Tara DeSa was a major factor in Cal's defensive effort, tying her career high of 32 digs (one shy of the school record) and notching an ace. Freshman
Xuemeng (Maggie) Li once again led the Bears with 15 kills and a match high three aces, while junior
Annalea Maeder recorded her 10th double-double of the year with 38 assists and 12 digs.
The first set was arguably the most competitive of the match, with the two teams finding themselves tied no fewer than 16 times. Cal recorded four streaks of three-or-more points to Oregon's three – despite the Ducks playing consistent defense and taking a late 23-22 lead, the Bears scored their next three points off two Oregon errors and ace number two from Li to earn a 1-0 advantage, 25-22.
Oregon returned fire with a vengeance in set two, hitting .370 and holding Cal to -.061 on the way to a 25-12 win to even up the match at 1-1, but Li came out swinging to start the third with a decisive kill to give Cal a lead that they never relinquished. A quick three-point run courtesy of one kill and one block apiece from sophomores
Sophie Scott and
Peyton DeJardin increased the score to 4-1; shortly afterward, Cal built up a six-point advantage that forced Oregon to take a timeout at 9-3. The Bears never let the gap shrink below three points for the rest of the set, responding to the Ducks' only three-point run with one of their own to stretch back out to an 18-12 lead. It was senior
Sam Taumoepeau who sealed set three for Cal at 25-20 with a kill to bring the Bears up by one set.
Once again, the Ducks followed a set loss with a major response on both offense and defense as Cal allowed four scoring runs of three-or-more points on the way to a 25-15 win for Oregon. The visitors kept that momentum going into the final set, stringing together four consecutive points to start before DeJardin stopped the bleeding with a kill. Cal found itself down 4-8 at the mid-set break but soon rallied, with two straight kills from Li and DeSa's service aces triggering an Oregon timeout. The Bears had one more three-point scoring run – kicked off by another block from Scott and DeJardin – to tie it up at 13 apiece; a block and a kill from the Ducks, however, sealed the battle in their favor.
UP NEXT
The Bears head to Los Angeles for their final two-game road trip next week, facing off with No. 25 USC (17-8, 11-4) on Friday at 7 p.m. PT and UCLA (15-10, 7-8) on Sunday at noon.
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