RENO, Nev. – California volleyball kept its season-opening win streak alive Friday, sweeping the Montana State Bobcats, 3-0, to remain undefeated at 10-0 on the season and match the program's best start since 2019.
 
The Golden Bears' defense had another solid day, holding the Bobcats (7-3) to .162 hitting while Cal posted .408 as a team. Once again, the star of the defensive effort was senior libero Tara DeSa, whose 16 digs put her over 1,000 in her career; she also added 10 assists for her first career double-double. Reigning three-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week Xuemeng (Maggie) Li once again had a phenomenal outing, recording 18 kills on .484 hitting and adding four blocks (three solo) and five digs to her stat line. Senior Sam Taumoepeau also stood out with a superb all-around performance, collecting 13 kills on .571 hitting, two service aces and five digs, and splitting the game-winning block with junior Ellie Hamm (eight kills, .467 hitting, six blocks); meanwhile, junior Annalea Maeder led the building with another 33 assists to add to her 2023 campaign.
 
The first set was Cal's best defensively as it restricted Montana State to just .061 at the net. Hamm started off the match with a kill and followed up with another shortly afterwards to bring the score to 2-1 early. The Bobcats soon responded with a 0-3 run to take the lead at 5-6, but the Bears then yanked their momentum back with five consecutive points powered by solid serving from Taumoepeau. Li's first kill of the day increased the score to 11-7; three points later, she posted the first of her blocks to improve Cal's lead to 13-8. From there, the Bears maintained the lead throughout the rest of the set, only allowing Montana State to come back within two once. It was redshirt sophomore Ava Mehrten who gave Cal the set win with her third kill, cementing the score at 25-19 to give the Blue & Gold a 1-0 advantage.
 
Montana State's Jourdain Kamps, who led the Bobcats with 12 kills, took the lead for her team to start off the second set, but kills from Li, Hamm and Taumoepeau quickly gave the Bears a lead that they maintained for the rest of the set. Another 5-0 Cal run, this time with Maeder serving, put the score at 14-6; from there, the Bears never led by fewer than five, with Li putting a stop to a late three-point string from the Bobcats (21-15). Hamm's next kill clinched set two for Cal by a margin of 25-18.
 
The Bears hit .542 in the third, their best offensive outing of the contest; however, Montana State had no intentions of going down quietly and maintained a narrow advantage for most of the set. Li started things off quickly with her 10th kill, but Cal was eventually forced to call its first timeout with the score at 10-13 as the Bobcats settled into a comfortable rhythm. A slight momentum shift followed, sparked by another kill from Li as the Bears outscored the Bobcats 7-5 to lead to another timeout at 17-18. Two points later, Li's 15th kill shook Montana State enough to commit two subsequent attack errors, finally allowing Cal to regain the lead at 20-19; after another Bobcats timeout and two consecutive points, Li scored another two of her own to put the Bears up for good. One final block, courtesy of Hamm and Taumoepeau, gave Cal the third set, 25-22, and brought its win total to double digits on the year.
 
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The Bears will face Nevada (4-6) on Saturday at 1 p.m. PT to close out their 2023 nonconference slate. A victory would give the team its best start since 2011, when Cal opened the season with 13 straight wins.
 
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