BERKELEY – California volleyball posted its second-consecutive sweep on Thursday night at Haas Pavilion, facing off with Virginia Tech for the first time in program history and coming out on top, 25-23, 25-12, 25-13.
 
The Golden Bears (12-15, 4-11 ACC) hit .333 as a team while holding the Hokies (7-18, 1-14) to .115 on the match. Cal also matched its season high of seven service aces, with sophomore Sophia Johnson recording four of those.
 
Two Bears – sophomore Xuemeng (Maggie) Li (13, .414) and junior Peyton DeJardin (10, .296) posted double-digit kills, while fifth year Gianna Bartalo notched 15 digs.
 
The Hokies brought an explosive offense early in the match, bolstered by opposite Hailey Pierce and her 10 kills in Set One, but Cal ramped up its efforts throughout the set to finish at .321 thanks in part to Li's seven kills (.500). The Bears first claimed a lead off a four-point run to bring the score to 6-4, but Virginia Tech responded later with a four-point run of its own to regain the advantage at 13-11. Both teams continued to trade blows as a 7-1 Cal streak was answered by a Hokies 4-0 sequence to force a 21-21 tie; a shared block by DeJardin and junior Mikayla Hayden, followed by a Virginia Tech error, eventually finished off the first set in favor of the Bears.
 
Cal found itself in an immediate three-point hole to start the second set but answered with five-straight points to jump in front and start its cruise to an easy victory, only failing to post consecutive scores twice and stringing together five sequences of three-or-more before DeJardin's fifth kill of the match brought the Bears up two sets to none. The last set was Cal's best offensively as the team hit .355 despite an 0-4 start; a 7-0 response that included two-straight service aces from Li gave the Bears the lead for good. One last six-point Cal run – and one final Hokies attack error – finally clinched the win for the Blue & Gold.
 
UP NEXT
Cal hosts Virginia (19-7, 9-6) Friday night at 7 p.m. PT.
 
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