STANFORD – The No. 9 California beach volleyball team opened up the Pac-12 North Invitational with a loss to No. 4 UCLA before bouncing back with a win over No. 13 Washington on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Stanford-hosted tournament began with the Golden Bears seeing their six-match win streak ended by the Bruins, who started the season as the top-ranked team in the nation. Four of the matches ended in straight sets with seniors Ashley Delgado and Ainsley Radell being the sole pair to force a tiebreaker. The veterans fought hard before ultimately falling 21-19, 16-21, 15-21.
 
No. 4 UCLA 5, No. 9 California 0
1 Maggie Boyd/Lexy Denaburg (UCLA) def. Sierra Caffo/Liz Waters-Leiga (CAL) 21-19 21-17
2 Peri Brennan/Abby Van Winkle (UCLA) def. Ashley Delgado/Ainsley Radell (CAL) 21-19 16-21 15-12
3 Jessie Smith/Tessa Van Winkle (UCLA) def. Marilu Pally/Ella Dreibholz (CAL) 21-14 21-16
4 Rileigh Powers/Haley Hallgren (UCLA) def. Natalie Martin/Maya Gessner (CAL) 24-22 21-17
5 Kelli Greene-Agnew/Natalie Myszkowski (UCLA) def. Brooke Buchner/Alex Young-Gomez (CAL) 21-13 21-18
Order of finish: 4, 2, 5*, 3, 1
 
For the third time this season Cal topped Washington by a score of 4-1. It was nearly the Bears' first sweep over the Huskies this year as they took four courts to start the match, but once again UW went the distance in the final match and picked up a win on court one.
 
Junior Brooke Buchner and sophomore Alex Young-Gomez got off the sand first despite their first set going into extra points on court five. After a 24-22 win the team made quick work of the second set taking it 21-13. Senior Lexi McKeown and sophomore Ella Dreibholz were next with identical sets of 21-19, 21-19 on court four.
 
The match was sealed at 3-0 on court three with a 21-19, 22-20 win from juniors Maya Gessner and Natalie Martin.
 
No. 9 Cal 4, No. 13 Washington 1
1. Robinson/Loreen (WASH) def. Sierra Caffo/Liz Waters-Leiga (CAL) 16-21, 21-16, 18-16
2. Ainsley Radell/Ashley Delgado (CAL) def. Monk-Heidrich/Mather (WASH) 21-12, 21-14
3. Maya Gessner/Natalie Martin (CAL) def. Dahl/Bowman (WASH) 21-19, 22-20
4. Lexi McKeown/Ella Dreibholz (CAL) def. DeFalco/Sinclair (WASH) 21-19, 21-19
5. Brooke Buchner/Alex Young-Gomez (CAL) def. Yerex/Gormally (WASH) 24-22, 21-13
Order of finish: 5, 4, 2*, 3, 1
 
Up Next
The Pac-12 North Invite concludes Saturday with Cal facing Arizona State at 10 a.m. PT and No. 10 Stanford at 4 p.m. Both matches will be aired on Pac-12 Networks.