SAN MARCOS, TEXAS – California volleyball (8-0, 0-0 Pac-12) continued its red-hot streak on Friday with a solid performance against a pair of talented teams, taking down Southeastern Louisiana (5-3, 0-0 Southland Conference) and Texas State (4-3, 0-0 Sun Belt Conference) in four sets each.
 
Vs. Southeastern Louisiana
 
Southeastern Louisiana entered the day with four wins under its belt and 15 returners from its 2022 NCAA Tournament squad. At the end of the match, they proved unable to stop the Golden Bears' offense, which featured a team .329 hitting percentage, Xuemeng (Maggie) Li's third double-double (19 kills, 15 digs), and career highs from senior Sam Taumoepeau (20 kills, four assists), junior Annalea Maeder (53 assists), sophomore Mikayla Hayden (13 kills) and redshirt sophomore Ava Mehrten (eight kills, three blocks).
 
For the first time all season, the Bears found themselves in a deficit after one set as the Lady Lions slammed down 24 kills on their way to a narrow 30-28 victory. Although Cal kept pace with Southeastern Louisiana the entire way, forcing no fewer than 17 ties throughout the set, the latter squad's .294 offense (led by eight of match leader Kailin Newsom's 21 kills) just outmatched the Bears' .258 hitting despite five kills apiece from Hayden, Li and Taumoepeau.
 
Cal was much more efficient in the second set, hitting .433 as a team on 30 total attacks. Powered by solid serving from Maeder, the Blue & Gold got off to a 4-0 start and never relinquished the lead; freshman Sophia Johnson was also a major contributor behind the service line, sparking two additional scoring runs of four or more to keep the Bears ahead. Hayden and Taumoepeau each posted five more kills in Cal's offensive effort, which garnered it a decisive 25-13 set win to even up the score at 1-1.
 
A kill from Li jump-started another set in which Cal immediately took the lead and maintained it the rest of the way, despite the Lady Lions out-hitting the Bears .333 to .302. Taumoepeau and Southeastern Louisiana's Newsom battled furiously at the net, going back-and-forth with six kills apiece; an early 2-to-1 scoring pace in favor of the Bears, however, helped them stay ahead despite a trio of 3-0 scoring runs from their opponents. Eventually, Taumoepeau surpassed her previous career high with kill no. 16, followed by a point from Maeder to close out the set, 25-22.
 
Cal hit .406 as a team in the final set, outlasting a 1-1 scoring pace forced by the Lady Lions at the beginning; after the Bears called a timeout with the score at 9-9, however, they jumped out to a 4-0 scoring run to go ahead for good. The set ended with seven straight Cal points, including four consecutive kills from Li and one final block from Maeder and junior Ellie Hamm to cap off the match, 25-15.
 
Vs. Texas State
 
A high-powered Texas State offense that entered the weekend with the NCAA's 14th-best hitting percentage was no match for Cal's No. 4-ranked defense, which held the Bobcats to just .157 as a team thanks in no small part to senior Tara DeSa's 24 digs. Li recorded her third straight double-double (24 kills, 11 digs) on .429 hitting, while Taumoepeau (19 kills, 11 digs) and Maeder (54 assists, 11 digs) each posted their second and third double-doubles of the season, respectively. Both Maeder (assists) and Mehrten (nine kills) improved upon their previous career highs, which they had reset just that morning.
 
Li kick-started both of Cal's 5-0 runs in the first set, posting six kills on a blistering .857 to power the Bears' offense. Cal quickly raced off to a 10-point lead thanks to two additional kills apiece from Taumoepeau and Mehrten, which enabled the squad to maintain momentum through a pair of late scoring runs from the Bobcats. Consecutive kills from Li brought the Bears to the break, going up 1-0 with a 25-16 set win.
 
Texas State rebounded in the second set, hitting .370 and scoring 13 points off uncharacteristic Cal errors on its way to a 25-18 win to tie up the match; in the third, however, the Bears swung momentum right back around with .361 hitting to the Bobcats' .103. Cal kept up the pressure thanks to five kills from Taumoepeau and four from Hamm, the latter of whom posted three blocks during a 5-0 run to end the set, 25-17.
 
Although the Bears dropped the first point in the fourth set, they quickly rebounded thanks to another kill and a subsequent service ace from Li; from there, Cal maintained control of the lead despite a pair of 4-0 runs from Texas State that helped to bring the score within two at match point. One error from the Bobcats later, and Cal took set four, 25-22, for its eighth win of the season.
 
UP NEXT
The Bears will finish up competition at the Bobcat Invitational on Saturday with a 9 a.m. PT first serve against Abilene Christian (5-3, 0-0 WAC).
 
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