California volleyball will play its chief rival twice this week for a pair of Big Spike showdowns, first hosting No. 5 Stanford on Wednesday night at Haas Pavilion then traveling south to Maples Pavilion in Stanford on Friday evening. Both matches will begin at 7 p.m. PT and will be broadcast on ACCNX.
 
Last weekend, the Golden Bears (10-10, 2-6 ACC) suffered a sweep at the hands of No. 1 Pitt and lost to No. 12 SMU in four after taking the first set. Fifth-year senior Gianna Bartalo reached 100 career aces against the Mustangs, while senior Ellie Hamm and sophomore Sawyer Thomsen each recorded seven blocks in that match with Hamm setting a new season best and Thomsen matching her career high.
 
Vs./At No. 5 Stanford (14-3, 6-2)
Last Meeting: Nov. 4, 2023 (at Stanford – Stanford won 3-0)
All-Time Record: Stanford leads 85-13
Current Streak: Stanford won last 7
 
The Cardinal ranks in the nation's top 20 in hitting percentage (.283 – 15th), kills per set (13.83 – 18th) and assists per set (12.92 – 18th). Its stacked 2024 résumé includes wins over No. 18 Minnesota, No. 6 Wisconsin, No. 24 Marquette, No. 6 Texas, No. 11 Kentucky and No. 12 SMU. Its only losses have come to top-5 teams (sweeps by No. 5 Nebraska, No. 5 Louisville and No. 1 Pitt).
 
Two Stanford players are featured on this year's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division I Player of the Year Watch List. Senior setter Kami Miner, a two-time AVCA All-American and three-time ACC Setter of the Week, ranks 25th in the nation with 10.45 assists per set on the year while her 10.46 average in conference play tops the ACC by a large margin. Junior outside hitter Elia Rubin was named All-Pac-12 in each of the past two years and is currently putting together another impressive season with a 3.98 kill-per-set average (.256) and 2.34 digs per set. Defensively, the Cardinal also field a serious threat in 6-foot-6 middle blocker Sami Francis, who averages 1.45 blocks per set and was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 16 after a weekend in which she averaged 1.91 blocks per set across three matches.
 
 
LI LEADS
After seven weeks of play this season, sophomore outside hitter Xuemeng (Maggie) Li stands atop the ACC with 274 kills (3.70 per set – 5th ACC) and is second in the conference with 308.0 points (4.16 per set – 8th ACC). She has led the team in kills in all but three of 20 matches this season and has reached double-digits in 15 of those. Liis coming off 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. During 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. 
BREAKOUT YEAR FOR LAU
Junior setter Natalie Lau has started each of the past 14 matches for the Bears and is currently fourth in the ACC with an average of 9.09 assists per set. She also leads the team with 477 assists on the year and eight double-doubles. Her first collegiate start came 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 second-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 become one of the Bears' top defensive players this season. She has recorded double-digit digs in 17 of Cal's 20 matches so far and is second in the ACC with 318 on the year (106 in ACC play) while ranking third with 4.30 per set (4.61 ACC). Bartalo's best weekend of the year came against Boston College and Syracuse, averaging 5.7 digs 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 No. 2 ranking in the conference in total digs (459) and the No. 3 spot in digs per set (15.30) 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. She crossed 100 career service aces in this year's match against No. 12 SMU.
 
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 47 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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