California volleyball is set to kick off the final month of its 2024 season this weekend with its fifth consecutive top-25 opponent, facing No. 23 Florida State at Tully Gymnasium in Tallahassee, Florida, (Friday, 3:30 p.m. PT) before traveling to Coral Gables, Florida, to square off with Miami at Knight Sports Complex (Sunday, 10 a.m. PT). Both matches will be broadcast on ACCNX.
 
Last week, the Golden Bears (10-12, 2-8 ACC) played two against No. 5 Stanford, with the Cardinal (16-3, 8-2) winning both in three sets. The second of those matches was much more competitive than the first, with Cal putting up set scores of 23-25, 19-25, 19-25 at The Farm.
 
At No. 23 Florida State (15-5, 7-3)
Last Meeting: Nov. 30, 1989 (@ Florida State – NCAA First Round; Cal won 3-1)
All-Time Record: Florida State leads 2-1
Current Streak: Cal won last 1
 
The Seminoles are hitting .276 as a team – the 16th-highest hitting percentage in the nation – and have a pair of September wins over then-No. 25 Miami under their belts. Their only ACC losses this year have come at the hands of No. 4 Louisville (3-2) and No. 25 North Carolina (3-2) and Virginia 3-0), with the first of those also counting as Florida State's only defeat on its home court this season.
 
Three Florida State players appear on the most recent American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division I Player of the Year Watch List. Senior Khori Louis ranks 10th nationally with a white-hot .428 hitting percentage on 220 kills and is also averaging 1.16 blocks per setwhile classmate Audrey Koenig leads the squad with 267 kills and 29 service aces on the year. Graduate student Taylor Head is a serious threat on both sides of the net, pacing the team with 218 digs this season while also ranking third with 192 kills.
 
At Miami (14-7, 5-5)
Last Meeting: N/A
All-Time Record: 0-0
Current Streak: N/A
 
The Hurricanes beat two ranked teams in September – a 3-2 victory over No. 1 Texas on the road and a sweep over No. 25 Arkansas at home – and have lost just twice at home (a sweep at the hands of Florida State and a 3-1 defeat to No. 4 Louisville). Most recently, Miami fell in five sets at No. 25 North Carolina and will face a tough test in No. 5 Stanford Friday before meeting the Bears.
 
Miami's offense is led by junior Flormarie Heredia Colon, who leads the ACC with 298 kills on the year with a fifth-place average of 3.82 per set in conference play, and sophomore Preseason All-ACC Selection Grace Lopez, who has totaled 260 kills at a .261 clip. The Hurricanes' defense is paced by senior blocking standout Ashley Carr, who has a 1.33 blocks-per-set average on the year and has raised her game even further in ACC play with 1.39 per set.
 
 
LI LEADS
After nine weeks of play this season, sophomore outside hitter Xuemeng (Maggie) Li ranks second in the ACC with 291 kills (3.64 per set – 6th ACC) and is third in the conference with 326.0 points. She has led the team in kills in all but four of 22 matches this season and has reached double-digits in 15 of those; she also ranks among the Bears' top-five players in all five statistical categories. Li is 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 17 matches after the Bears lost senior Annalea Maeder to injury and is currently fifth in the ACC with an average of 8.92 assists per set. She also leads the team with 571 assists on the year and nine 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 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 fourth in the ACC with 332 on the year (136 in ACC play), averaging 4.15 per set. 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. 3 ranking in the conference in total digs (1183) and the No. 4 spot in digs per set (14.79). 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.
 
FIERY FRESHMAN
Middle blocker Kate Mansfield, a rookie from Plano, Texas, has been a bright spot 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 48 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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