BERKELEY – The No. 9 California beach volleyball team is set for a weekend of competitive matches at the Pac-12 North Invitational. The Golden Bears will face four Pac-12 teams, with matches against No. 4 UCLA and No. 13 Washington on Friday and Arizona State and host No. 10 Stanford on Saturday.
 
The Bears are currently riding a six-match win streak having swept Cal Poly's Mustang Invitational last weekend and hold an 18-5 record. The Bruins come into the tournament at 22-2, having won 13 of their 14 contests. The Bears and Huskies (12-10) will meet for the third time in a month, with Cal winning both of the previous meetings 4-1. The Sun Devils enter the weekend at an even 7-7 and the Cardinal boasts a 17-6 record. It will be the second meeting of the season between Cal and Stanford, with the Bears winning the Big Spike at home 3-2 in March.
 
Three of the Bears' matches will be aired on Pac-12 Networks and live scoring will be available for all four on CalBears.com.
 
Radell and Delgado Named AVCA/CBVB National Pair of the Week
After an incredible outing at the Mustang Invitational last weekend, Ainsley Radell and Ashley were named the AVCA/CBVB Pair of the Week
 
The captain duo became the first Golden Bear pair to earn the national honor after leading the team to a 4-0 record and posting a 4-0 record of its own. On the season the two boast a 16-4 overall record and have won six straight matches.
 
Radell and Delgado started the weekend with three straight sweeps, including a court-one win over UC Davis and a pair of court-two wins over No. 13 Washington and No. 20 Tulane. They finished with a tight three-set win over the host Mustangs on court one.
 
Milestones Made
This past weekend two Bear captains reached huge career milestones. Senior Ainsley Radell earned her 70th individual win, moving her into second on the all-time wins list. Junior Brooke Buchner earned her 50th and now ranks eighth on that list.
 
Caffo and Waters-Leiga Named Pac-12 Pair of the Week
Junior Liz Waters-Leiga and sophomore Sierra Caffo were named the Pac-12 Beach Volleyball Pair of the Week earlier this week after a solid showing at the Fight In The Fort. The transfer duo has been on a hot streak to start its first season with the Bears, boasting an 11-3 overall record, and continued that success this past weekend going 3-1.
 
Beginning the weekend on court two, Caffo and Waters-Leiga picked up a gritty 21-17, 30-28 win over No. 1 TCU. Following that win the Bears made their debut in the top spot, playing on court one for the rest of the weekend. Their first court-one win came against No. 15 Florida International 22-20, 22-24, 15-8 and they promptly picked up another, topping Missouri State 21-10, 21-15.
 
Big Spike Comeback
The Bears had a dramatic comeback win over No. 8 Stanford in their home opener. After falling behind 2-0 on the lower courts, Cal's top-three pairings were forced to win out to capture the victory. The transfer pair of Liz Waters-Leiga and Sierra Caffo kept its team's hopes alive with its first court-two win of the season, and the team of Maya Gessner and Ella Dreibholz grinded out a three-set win on court three to tie the match. It would all come down to the senior duo of Ainsley Radell and Ashley Delgado. Playing in the top spot for the second time this season, the veterans didn't flinch, winning in straight sets to complete the reverse sweep. It was Cal's first win over a top-10 team this season and led to its highest AVCA ranking of the year at nine.
 
Nine In A Row
After dropping two of their first three matches, including a heartbreaker to No. 4 USC, the Bears went on an incredible win streak of nine matches. The streak stretched from March 4-12 and featured six sweeps and four wins over ranked opponents. It finally came to end on the final day of the Queen's Cup with a 3-2 loss to No. 9 Hawai'i.