The 2024 California volleyball team will head on its toughest road trip yet this weekend, first traveling to Pittsburgh to face No. 1 Pitt Friday at 4 p.m. PT before flying to Dallas to match up against No. 12 SMU Sunday at 11 a.m. Both matches will be broadcast on ACCNX.
 
Last weekend, the Golden Bears (10-8, 2-4 ACC) suffered a reverse sweep at the hands of Boston College before earning a reverse sweep of its own the next day against Syracuse. Libero Gianna Bartalo averaged 5.7 digs per set on the weekend and posted the 14th 30-dig performance in program history in the match against the Orange, while Xuemeng (Maggie) Li, Natalie Lau and Peyton DeJardin each recorded a double-double on both days.
 
Cal currently ranks first in ACC play in both total digs (380) and digs per set (16.52).
 
Vs. No. 1 Pitt (15-1, 5-1)
Last Meeting: Dec. 11, 1981 (AIAW Tournament @ Tallahassee, Fla. – Pitt won 2-1)
All-Time Record: 0-1
 
The Panthers won their first 36 sets to start the year and lead the nation in team hitting percentage (.343, .310 in ACC play) and opponent hitting percentage (.107, .069 ACC); they also rank fourth in service aces per set (2.27), 15th in kills per set (13.86), 17th in blocks per set (2.75) and 19th in assists per set (12.94). Pitt is led by reigning American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) National Freshman of the Year Olivia Babcock, who has set a blistering pace of 0.81 service aces per set (second best in the nation), as well as 4.25 kills per set (30th NCAA) with 204 total kills. The star-studded roster also includes outside hitter Torrey Stafford, who is hitting .409 on the year at 4.26 kills per set for a top-30 ranking in both categories, and setter Rachel Fairbanks, who has the 20th-best assist pace in the nation with 10.52 per set. All three were named to the inaugural AVCA Division I Player of the Year Watch List in September.
 
Vs. No. 12 SMU (13-4, 5-1)
Last Meeting: Sept. 14, 2002 (@ SMU Doubletree Invitational) – Cal won 3-0
All-Time Record: 1-0
 
The Mustangs are riding high from a Saturday 3-2 victory over No. 1 Pitt – the only team to defeat the Panthers this year – and have proven incredibly dangerous with three sweeps over top-25 teams this season, including No. 2 Nebraska. As a squad, SMU is holding opponents to just .166 on the year and is putting up 2.61 blocks per set. Three players – setter Celia Cullen, opposite Naya Shime and middle blocker Nnedi Okammor – have earned ACC weekly honors this season; they respectively lead the team in assists (600), kills (202) and blocks (75). Middle blocker Natalie Foster has also been a standout for the Mustangs, ranking seventh in the nation with 0.68 service aces per set.
 
LI LEADS
Sophomore outside hitter Xuemeng (Maggie) Li looks to take another step forward in her second year, following a sensational rookie season in which she was named a VolleyballMag All-America Honorable Mention, the AVCA Pacific West Region Freshman of the Year and All-Pacific West Region Honorable Mention, an All-Pac-12 team member and the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. Her six Pac-12 Freshman of the Week awards also tied a conference record. In her freshman year, she posted 441 kills - third most among all Pac-12 players - with 4.35 points per set (4th Pac-12). She was also second on the team with 34 aces and third with 265 digs. After seven weeks of play this season, Li stands atop the ACC with 258 kills (3.85 per set – 5th ACC) and 290.0 points (4.33 per set – 6th ACC). She has led the team in kills in all but two of 18 matches this season and has reached double-digits in 14 of those.
 
BREAKOUT YEAR FOR LAU
Junior setter Natalie Lau has started each of the past 14 matches for the Bears and is currently fifth in the ACC with an average of 9.35 assists per set. She also leads the team with 477 assists on the year and eight double-doubles. Her first collegiate start came on Sept. 6 against Utah State, where she recorded 40 assists and 10 digs as well as three kills, two aces and two blocks. In the next match against Saint Mary's, she posted a career-high 64 assists (and 18 digs) for the best such outing of any ACC player in a five-set contest this year. She followed that up with another career performance three days later, recording four blocks against Wyoming in addition to 45 assists and 13 digs. Lau has also notched three service aces in consecutive games this year (vs. Boston College & Syracuse), matching a career single-match best.
 
GLORY FOR GIANNA
Graduate transfer Gianna Bartalo, who spent her undergraduate career at Denver, has quickly become one of the Bears' top defensive players through the team's first five weeks of play. She has recorded double-digit digs in 17 of Cal's 18 matches so far, leading the ACC with 302 on the year (106 in ACC play) and ranking third with 4.51 per set (4.61 ACC); her best weekend of the year came against Boston College and Syracuse, averaging 5.7 digs per set across 10 sets and posting the 14th 30-dig performance in program history in the latter game. Her defensive efforts have led Cal to the top ranking in the conference in both total digs (380) and digs per set (16.52) in ACC play. As a Pioneer, Bartalo was named All-Summit League Honorable Mention in her senior year and ranks seventh on Denver's all-time career list with an average of 3.73 digs per set through her first four years.
 
FANTASTIC FRESHMAN
Middle blocker Kate Mansfield, a rookie from Plano, Texas, has been an offensive standout for Cal this season. She has recorded eight matches with a hitting percentage of over .300 and has posted consecutive games with double-digit kills twice this season – first against Saint Mary's (11, .474) and Wyoming (10, .333) in Week Three, then against UC Irvine (16, .419) and Santa Clara (11, .625) the following week; in the latter two matches, she led the team in kills. Mansfield is also stout on the defensive side of the net with 44 blocks on the year, including three five-block outings.
 
WELCOME TO THE ACC
The Bears wasted no time making their presence felt as new members of the ACC. For their performances in going 3-0 at the season-opening Rose City Showdown in Portland, sophomore Maggie Li and senior Annalea Maeder were named ACC Offensive Player of the Week and ACC Setter of the Week, respectively. Li averaged 4.45 kills per set - tops in the conference through the initial week - while hitting for a .281 percentage. Her 24 kills in a five-set win over San Francisco tied a career high. Maeder dished out a conference-high 122 assists in Portland, including 60 in the victory over the Dons.
 
NEW CONFERENCE, NEW STAFF
Head coach Jen Malcom joined the Bears in January 2024 from UCLA, where she was the associate head coach in 2023; previously, she spent seven years at Iowa State as an assistant coach (2016-18) and associate head coach (2019-22), helping lead the Cyclones to five NCAA Tournament appearances. Also on staff are new assistant coaches Andrew Sato (Long Beach State), Cole Murray (Loyola Marymount) and Alyssa Andreno (Tennessee); Sato was previously a volunteer assistant coach at Cal (2017) and was most recently an assistant coach at Cal State Fullerton (2021-23), while Murray acted as an assistant coach at Campbell (2023) and Andreno at Winthrop (2022-23).
 
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