BERKELEY – The eighth-seeded California beach volleyball team is set for the 2023 NCAA Championship from May 5-7 in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The Golden Bears will face ninth-seeded Long Beach State in the first round on Friday at 8 a.m. PT.
Making their second-straight appearance in the tournament, the Bears enter the weekend following their highest Pac-12 Championship finish in school history. After sweeping Arizona State, Cal earned its record-breaking 27th win of the season, upsetting No. 3 USC 3-2 to move on to the semifinals. A rivalry match with No. 8 Stanford awaited the Bears there, and they did not waver in sweeping the Cardinal for the first time this season to advance to their first Pac-12 Championship final. The incredible run came to an end with a 3-0 loss to No. 1 UCLA in the last round.
Sophomore
Sierra Caffo, junior
Liz Waters-Leiga, and seniors
Ainsley Radell and
Ashley Delgado were named to the all-tournament team.
The Beach is coming off of a great run of its own, going undefeated through the Big West Championship to win its first conference title and earn an automatic bid. Long Beach State takes a five-match win streak into the NCAA Championship, but has only defeated one top-10 team this season, defeating No. 8 Hawai'I during its title run. Back in March, Cal took the sole regular-season matchup between the two teams 3-2.
Follow The Bears
Every match of the NCAA Championship will be broadcast live on the ESPN family of networks and live scoring will be available via CalBears.com. ESPNU will provide the coverage for Friday's opening round with Saturday's matches airing on ESPN2 and Sunday's final airing on ESPN.
Tournament Time
This will be Cal's second NCAA Championship appearance in program history after making the tournament for the first time last season. The Bears will be looking for their first tournament victory after falling 3-2 to No. 6 LSU in the first round last year. With several returners from the 2022 roster set to compete on Friday and a pair of transfers with NCAA Championship experience in Caffo (LSU) and Waters-Leiga (Florida State) playing in the top spot, the Bears begin the weekend with a much higher floor their second time around.
Rewriting the Record Book
The 10th Cal beach volleyball team will be one to remember with several records already broken on both the individual and team side. As a team, the Bears broke the program wins record with their 27th on April 27 with a 3-2 win over No. 3 USC, and they currently hold the highest win percentage as well at .757 (28-9). Cal also enters the NCAA Championship with its highest-seeding ever at eight.
On the individual side, Radell picked up her 80th career win during that contest with the Trojans to move into second on the all-time wins list and is now just two away from tying the record of 83 set by Grace Campbell in 2019. Radell is also just one win away from breaking the single-season wins record held by three different Bears.
As a pair, Radell and Delgado rank second with 29 career wins and
Lexi McKeown and
Ella Dreibholz rank third with 27. While the record of 37 is out of reach for the senior duo of Radell and Delgado, the two captains could become just the second pair to reach 30 career wins.
Efficiency
Six of the Bears' 10 usual starters currently rank top 10 on the program's career win percentage list with five taking up the top five spots:
1. Lexi McKeown (2022-present) .772
2. Brooke Buchner (2021-present) .763
3. Alex Young-Gomez (2022-present) .720
4. Ainsley Radell (2020-present) .716
5. Ella Dreibholz (2022-present) .708
6. Grace Campbell (2016-19) .704
7. Jordan Polo (2019-21) .703
8.
Mima Mirkovic (2018-22) .699
9.
Ana Costa (2022) .684
10. Sierra Caffo (2023-present) .677
Radell and Delgado Named AVCA/CBVB National Pair of the Week
After an incredible outing at the Mustang Invitational earlier this month,
Ainsley Radell and
Ashley Delgado 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.
Radell and Delgado started the weekend with three straight sweeps, including a court-one win over UC Davis and 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.
Caffo and Waters-Leiga Named Pac-12 Pair of the Week
Junior
Liz Waters-Leiga and sophomore
Sierra Caffo were named the Pac-12 Pair of the Week last month after a solid showing at the Fight In The Fort at TCU.
Beginning the weekend on court two, Caffo and Waters-Leiga picked up a gritty 21-17, 30-28 win over No. 1 TCU. The pair then made its 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 in March. 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 pulled 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 No. 9.
Nine In A Row
After dropping two of their first three matches to begin the season, 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 an end on the final day of the Queen's Cup with a 3-2 loss to No. 9 Hawai'i.
