BERKELEY – At first serve on Wednesday night, Haas Pavilion's court featured two undefeated teams. After four sets, there was one.
 
California volleyball (6-0, 0-0 Pac-12) triumphed in its toughest test yet this season, defeating the red-hot Saint Mary's (California) Gaels (6-1, 0-0 WCC) in four sets, 3-1, in an action-packed defensive struggle between the two longtime neighborhood rivals. Two-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week Xuemeng (Maggie) Li had another solid night, recording her second double-double of the season with 11 kills and 16 digs while adding 4 blocks. Senior Sam Taumoepeau matched Li's kill total and contributed three assists, two service aces and four blocks to the stats sheet, the last of which tied her career high. Mikayla Hayden, who led the 2022 Bears in total blocks as a freshman, continued to impress with an eight-stop night to set a new career mark, while junior setter Annalea Maeder collected a nice stat line of her own with four kills, 37 assists, two service aces, 10 digs and three blocks for her own second double-double of the year.
 
The Golden Bears held Saint Mary's to just .029 hitting on the night, continuing a trend that has Cal ranked seventh in the nation in opponent hitting percentage.
 
Although the Gaels scored the first point of the match off a Cal service error, the Bears quickly found their footing and reached the 10-point mark first, aided by a straight pair of kills from freshman Ashley Li and a nasty block from Maeder and junior Ellie Hamm to put the hosts up by four. Saint Mary's took a timeout to try and swing momentum back in its favor, but Cal was on a roll: senior Tara DeSa recorded her first service ace of the night, Hamm added two more blocks and Taumoepeau crushed two straight kills to bring the score to 20-13, Bears. The Gaels then mustered up a 3-1 run, but a fierce kill from Hayden staved off any comeback attempts that the opposition had in mind, leading to Hamm's fourth block of the set and another Taumoepeau kill to send both teams to the break at 25-16.
 
The second set started off with a score of 3-3 – momentum, however, was rolling in Cal's favor. The Bears' stout defense combined with a sprinkle of offensive prowess to not allow a Saint Mary's score for the next 16 points, taking advantage of a veritable slew of Gaels errors and pair of consecutive service aces from freshman Sophia Johnson to pull ahead, 19-3. A late 3-0 run by Cal further doomed the visitors; it was Ashley Li's fourth kill of the night that brought the score to 25-9 and put Cal up two sets to one.
 
Saint Mary's found its moxie again in the third, posting its only positive single-set hitting percentage of the night at .281. Cal kept pace with its guests throughout the entire first half of the set, recording no fewer than 11 ties leading up to a 13-13 score, but the Gaels took advantage of a handful of errors to pull ahead and force two timeouts. The Bears mounted a late 5-1 comeback try with two straight kills apiece from Hamm and Ashley Li, respectively; in the end, Saint Mary's closed out the set by a margin of just two points, 25-23.
 
The first point of the final set once again went to the Gaels, but Cal had no intention of repeating the result of Set Three. At 3-5, Saint Mary's, senior Kendall Jensen swatted her fourth service ace of the night to tie her career high, followed shortly afterward by two consecutive blocks from Hayden and Taumoepeau to spark a back-and-forth scoring battle. Maggie Li clinched her double-double at 11-12, Gaels, with her 10th kill of the night, but Cal was forced to take a timeout after two more kills by Saint Mary's. Much to the visitors' dismay, however, that break provided a reset opportunity for the Bears; after one additional point apiece, Cal ripped off six straight points to go ahead, 19-15, and stay ahead for good. One last kill from Maggie Li finally ended the match, 25-20, and kept the Bears' undefeated season alive.
 
UP NEXT
Cal will head to San Marcos, Texas, to face three strong teams in Southeastern Louisiana (3-2, 0-0 SLC), Texas State (4-1, 0-0 SBC) and Abilene Christian (5-2, 0-0 WAC) at the Bobcat Classic (Sept. 8-9).
 
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