BERKELEY – California volleyball (3-0, 0-0 Pac-12) is set to make its regular-season home debut following a three-game win streak to open the year and claim the Army Invitational tournament title. The Golden Bears dropped just one set last week and clinched their best start since 2019, after which senior Tara DeSa earned all-tournament MVP; junior Annalea Maeder and freshman Xuemeng (Maggie) Li also earned spots on the all-tournament team. Now, Cal will welcome Portland State (2-1, 0-0 Big Sky) on Friday at 7 p.m. PT and Southern Utah (2-1, 0-0 WAC) on Saturday at 2 p.m. to Bear Territory in hopes of extending that streak and building further momentum as the Bears barrel toward Pac-12 play.
 
The Bears are 6-3 all time against the Vikings. Last year, Portland State finished 18-13 and reached the second round of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship. They are proving to be a threat behind the service line, ranking 13th in the nation with 2.70 aces per set and 18th with 27 total aces.
 
Cal swept Southern Utah in the only meeting between the two teams to date. In 2022, the Thunderbirds posted a record of 7-17 with a first-round exit in the WAC Tournament. Junior Teniya Leuluai has been a standout for Southern Utah to start the season, having recorded 114 total assists to rank 34th in the NCAA.

Haas Pavilion will also host a neutral-site matchup between Portland State and Southern Utah on Friday at 11 a.m.
 
NEW COACH ON THE BLOCK
Crissy Jones Schoonderwoerd steps into the interim head coach role for the Golden Bears after being hired as an assistant in February 2023. Previously, she acted as assistant coach for Cal Poly beach volleyball in 2020 while finding success on the AVP and FIVB circuits as a player. In her collegiate career at Washington and later at Cal Poly, she became just the second player in NCAA history to earn All-American honors for both indoor and beach volleyball. Jones Schoonderwoerd is joined on the staff by two first-year assistant coaches in Cal alumna Savannah Rennie and AVP pro Billy Allen.
 
LI LEADS
Freshman outside hitter Xuemeng (Maggie) Li earned Cal's first Pac-12 weekly honor since 2019 - and its first rookie honor since 2018 - as she was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week after the Bears' first three matches of the season. Li totaled 34 kills and 27 digs with a .313 hitting percentage at the Army Invitational, earning her way onto the all-tournament team; earlier, in Cal's exhibition match with San Francisco, she made a big impact on the offense with 16 kills in three sets.
 
WELCOME TO BEAR TERRITORY
Five newcomers join the Bears in 2023. Setter Paige Morningstar (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvan), a redshirt sophomore who spent her first two years with Louisville, comes to Berkeley with NCAA Tournament experience under her belt and an impressive high school resume that includes multiple National High School Female Athlete of the Year honors and  four state championships. Outside hitters Xuemeng (Maggie) Li (Beijing, China) and Ashley Li (Diamond Bar) have experience on the Chinese Women's National U20 Team and as a member of the Division 2 All-CIF Southern Section Team, respectively. Sawyer Thomsen (Lawrence, Kansas) and Sophia Johnson (Wayzata, Minnesota) round out the group as highly ranked players in their respective states (Thomsen as the No. 1 middle blocker in Kansas and Johnson as Minnesota's No. 2 libero).
 
DESA DOMINATES
Senior Tara DeSa had her best year at libero in her third season with the Bears, ranking third in the Pac-12 with 448 total digs and fourth in the conference with 4.00 digs per set. A two-time all-tournament team member, she became just the 11th Golden Bear ever to record 30 or more digs in a single match with a 32-dig effort against Arizona (Nov. 17) - just one shy of the all-time program record. DeSa also posted 118 assists, third most on the team. Another campaign like her 2022 season would notch her an entry on Cal's top-10 career digs list; she needs at least 320 on the year to earn a spot.
 
DEADLY DUO
Cal returns both of its young standout middle blockers from last season. Mikayla Hayden and Sophie Scott, now sophomores, consistently remained among the conference's top-blocking freshmen in 2022 - Hayden was tied for the top spot among all first years with a team-leading 109 stops (sixth most in the Pac-12), while Scott ranked second on the squad and eighth in the conference with 100 total blocks. Both players also earned spots on the All-Cal Tournament Team and played in a combined 217 sets. Hayden is also a threat on the offensive side of the ball: in her rookie year, she posted 158 kills, third most on the team. For her part, Scott posted the highest single-game blocks total of any Bear last season with a nine-stop effort against Oregon State (Sept. 23).
 
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