SANTA MONICA - After having its Saturday matches canceled due to weather, the No. 11 California beach volleyball team opened the 2023 season Sunday afternoon by splitting a pair of matches with No. 7 Loyola Marymount and Concordia Irvine. The Golden Bears fell 3-2 in their season opener with LMU before sweeping CUI 5-0 at Ocean Park.
 
No. 7 LMU 3, No. 11 Cal 2
After dropping a match on court two, the new duo of transfers Sierra Caffo and Liz Waters-Leiga found themselves in a battle on court four. After taking the first set 21-15, the Lions earned a hard-fought 21-18 win in set two to force a tiebreaker. The third and final set came down to the wire, but the Bear pair was clutch late, topping the Lions 15-12 to even the overall match at 1-1.
 
A straight-set win for LMU on court five gave the Lions a 2-1 advantage, but Cal was quick to respond with a win on court three. Senior Lexi McKeown and Alex Young-Gomez picked up their first win of the season in straight sets 21-16, 21-19 to once again even the match at 2-2.
 
The final decision would come down to court one where junior Maya Gessner and sophomore Ella Dreibholz bounced back from a tough 21-19 firstset loss with a gritty 23-21 win in set two. The final set of the match was a back-and-forth affair, but the Lions emerged victorious in the end, edging the Bears 15-13 to seal their first win of the season.
 
Paul/Prihti (LMU) def. Maya Gessner/Ella Dreibholz (Cal) 21-19, 21-23, 15-13
Thorup/Chinn (LMU) def. Ainsley Radell/Ashley Delgado (Cal) 21-13, 21-17 
Alex Young-Gomez/Lexi McKeown (Cal) def. Ramirez/Garder (LMU) 21-16, 21-19
Sierra Caffo/Liz Waters-Leiga (Cal) def. Tucker Firnett (LMU) 21-15, 18-21, 15-12
Hooker/Riffel (LMU) def Ava Mann/Brooke Buchner (Cal) 21-14, 21-13
 
No. 11 Cal 5, Concordia Irvine 0
After the tough morning loss, the Bears bounced back in a huge way – sweeping all five courts against Concordia Irvine – to pick up their first win of the season.
 
Young-Gomez and McKeown had an impressive win on court two that featured a 21-9 firstset win. It was the largest margin of victory of the day as the pair improved to 2-0. McKeown now has 29 total wins as an individual and continues to hold the all-time career win percentage record at .783. Caffo and Waters-Leiga improved to 2-0 on the day as well with a 21-14, 21-19 win on court four.
 
After suffering their first loss as a pair, seniors Ashley Delgado and Ainsley Radell responded with a 21-11, 21-12 win on court two and improved to 6-1 as a duo. Maya Gessner and Ella Dreibholz earned their first-career courtone win, topping their opponents 21-14, 21-13. Ava Mann and Brooke Buchner had an impressive 21-15, 21-12 win on court five to record their 12th victorytogether.
 
Gessner/Dreibholz (Cal) def. Phair/Highstreet (CUI) 21-14, 21-13
Radell/Delgado (Cal) def. Ryan/Ostisic (CUI) 21-11, 21-12
Young-Gomez/McKeown (Cal) def. Smith/Giusta (CUI) 21-9, 21-18
Caffo/Waters-Leiga (Cal) def. Prewitt/Lamdine (CUI) 21-14, 21-19
Mann/Buchner (Cal) def. Moreno/Dyer (CUI) 21-15, 21-12            
 
Up Next
The Bears will now prepare for four more matches down in Los Angeles next weekend as they will head to the Pac-12 South Tournament. There they will face USC, Oregon, Utah and Arizona.