BERKELEY – California volleyball will welcome a pair of ACC opponents this weekend to start off a four-match homestand, hosting Wake Forest Friday evening and NC State on Sunday afternoon. This will be the first time in program history that the Golden Bears (8-6, 0-2 ACC) have matched up with either team. Both matches will be broadcast on ACCNX.
 
Last weekend, Cal lost to No. 5 Louisville in three sets and Notre Dame in four on the road. The Bears became Louisville's first unranked opponent of the season to hold the Cardinals to under .200 hitting, while sophomore Sophia Johnson tied her career best with four service aces against the Fighting Irish.
 
Vs. Wake Forest (9-4, 1-1)
Last Meeting: None
All-Time Record: 0-0
 
The Demon Deacons finished ninth in the ACC last year but have gotten off to a very competitive start in 2024, with three of their four losses going to five sets. Much of their success has been due to their defense, which has held opponents to a combined hitting percentage of .155 (25th NCAA) and averages 2.61 blocks per set (36th NCAA). Leading the way at the net is senior middle blocker Tina Grkovic, who ranks 12th in the nation with 71 total blocks on the year and 41st with 1.31 blocks per set. On the offensive side of the ball, junior outside hitter Paige Crawford leads the team in both kills (133, 2.51 per set) and service aces (22, 0.42 per set).
 
Vs. NC State (7-3, 2-0)
Last Meeting: None
All-Time Record: 0-0
 
The Wolfpack, which finished fifth in the ACC in 2023, swept Virginia Tech and beat Virginia 3-1 last weekend to open conference play. As a team, they excel both defensively (15.22 digs per set) and at the service line (1.81 aces per set), ranking second and fourth, respectively, among all ACC teams. Graduate libero Skye Stokes leads the team in both categories with 143 digs (3.97 per set – 7th ACC) and 15 service aces (0.42 per set – 7th ACC), recording a combined 32 digs in the past two matches alone.
 
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 five weeks of play this season, Li stands atop the ACC with 203 kills (3.98 per set – 5th ACC) and 226.0 points (4.43 per set – 7th ACC). She has led the team in kills in all but two of 14 matches this season and has reached double-digits in 11 of those.
 
BREAKOUT YEAR FOR LAU
Junior setter Natalie Lau has started each of the past 10 matches for the Bears and is currently fifth in the ACC with an average of 9.91 assists per set. She also leads the team with 347 assists on the year and five 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.
 
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 13 of Cal's 14 matches so far, ranking second in the ACC with 220 on the year at a third-place clip of 4.31 per set. 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.
 
FANTASTIC FRESHMAN
Middle blocker Kate Mansfield, a rookie from Plano, Texas, has been an offensive standout for Cal this season. She has recorded seven 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 28 blocks on the year, including a five-block outing at Saint Mary's.
 
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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