BERKELEY – California volleyball battled hard against the Oregon State Beavers in Haas Pavilion on Friday night, but were ultimately bested by the visitors, 3-1, to bring the Golden Bears' record to 15-11 (4-11 Pac-12). Oregon State's (10-15, 5-10) defense accumulated a total of 15 blocks and held the Golden Bears to .167 hitting across four sets.
 
Junior Annalea Maeder lit up the stats sheet with her ninth double-double of the season, leading both teams with 41 assists, 19 digs (a career high) and four aces while also adding four kills and four blocks. The season-high four aces brought her career total up to 103, good for seventh in program history.
 
Freshman Xuemeng (Maggie) Li recorded her 10th double-double with 17 kills (a match high) and 11 digs. Senior Sam Taumoepeau was the first player on the court to reach double figures in kills, notching 12, while classmate Tara DeSa and freshman Sophia Johnson respectively accumulated 15 and 11 digs.
 
Although sophomore Mikayla Hayden starred for Cal in the first set with five kills on .667 hitting and two of her five blocks, the Bears were unable to find a consistent offensive rhythm before the break. Maeder started the match off with her first ace of the night before OSU went on a five-point run; the Bears battled their way back to the first of eight ties in that first set, but another run for the Beavers put the score out of reach and ended in a 25-22 win for OSU.
 
Cal won the second set 25-18, hitting .324 to OSU's .167 and jolted by the addition of freshman Sawyer Thomsen in her first court action for the Bears since Sept. 1. The Lawrence, Kansas, native posted her first of three kills to take a 4-3 lead for Cal; from there, the two teams kept things close until the Bears ripped off an eight-point run (powered by Johnson's serving) to build an insurmountable 21-14 lead. It was a tip-over from Maeder that clinched Set Two for the Blue &  Gold and evened up the match at one apiece.
 
Oregon State found their own offense in the third set, quickly racing out to a four-point advantage and never relinquishing the lead on the way to a 25-19 win. In the final set, Cal responded with an initial 4-0 run of its own, including the first of Li's eight fourth-set kills; however, the Beavers then scored five straight to go up, 9-6, and once again maintained their lead until one final OSU kill that ended the match at 25-22.
 
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Cal will host No. 6 Oregon (21-5, 11-4) on Saturday at 11 a.m. PT.
 
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