California volleyball will play its final road and home games of 2024 this week in a pair of rematches, starting with a 10 a.m. PT showdown against Syracuse in Syracuse, New York, Wednesday and finishing the year Saturday against Notre Dame at 1 p.m. in Berkeley.
 
Both matches will be broadcast on ACCNX. Saturday will also act as the Golden Bears' (13-17, 5-13 ACC) Senior Day, where they will honor the careers of Paige Morningstar, Ellie Hamm, Gianna Bartalo, Annalea Maeder and Ava Mehrten.
 
Cal lost in four to North Carolina last Friday and defeated Duke 3-1 the following Sunday, both on the road. Xuemeng (Maggie) Li posted two games with 20-plus kills, bringing her current streak up to three; in both of those, she hit .380 or better. She and Peyton DeJardin each recorded a double-double in the match against Duke, while Natalie Lau notched 51 assists to tie for the second-highest total in any four-set ACC match this season.
 
Vs. Syracuse (14-16, 2-16)
Last Meeting: Oct. 12, 2024 (at Cal; Cal won 3-2)
All-Time Record: 1-0
Current Streak: Cal won last one
 
The Orange started off their year with 12-straight wins but have struggled in conference play, their only victories since being five-setters against Virginia Tech and Notre Dame. In the previous match this year between Syracuse and Cal, the Bears pulled out a reverse sweep thanks to the efforts of Li (17 kills) and Gianna Bartalo (30 digs), the latter of whom became just the 14^th Cal player to cross the 30-dig mark; on the other side of the court, the Orange's Ava Palm and Sydney Waller posted 16 kills apiece, while Sydney Moore led all players with nine total blocks.
 
Syracuse ranks 34th in the NCAA with an average of 2.55 blocks per set but sit last in the conference with 10.13 kills per set, 9.58 assists per set and a .131 hitting percentage. Its most efficient attacker is Anastasiia Nikolnikova, who is hitting .343 on the year with 136 kills and also leads the squad with 1.19 blocks per set.
 
Vs. Notre Dame (11-16, 4-14)
Last Meeting: Sept. 29, 2024 (at Notre Dame; Notre Dame won 3-1)
Last Home Meeting: Oct. 24, 1985 (Cal won 3-0)
All-Time Record: 3-2
Current Streak: Notre Dame won last one
 
The Fighting Irish entered ACC play with a record of 7-2 but have only picked up four wins since; however, one of those victories was against Cal, who fell in four earlier this year in South Bend. In that match, Notre Dame's Phyona Schrader picked up one of her 12 triple-doubles this season with 12 kills (.429), 18 assists and 13 digs, the latter of which tied for a match high. On the Bears' side, Li (15 kills) and freshman Kate Mansfield (11 kills) led the offensive effort while also hitting over .300. Cal's defense fielded a trio of players with double-digit digs but posted just two blocks.
 
As a team, Notre Dame is hitting .191 on the year. It snapped an 11-game losing streak with consecutive wins against Duke and Virginia Tech earlier this month.
 
 
LI LEADS
After 13 weeks of play this season, sophomore outside hitter Xuemeng (Maggie) Li ranks second in the ACC with 427 kills (3.99 per set – 3rd ACC), the fourth-highest total by any Division I sophomore this year, and is third in the conference with 469.0 points (4.38 per set). She has posted 20-or-more kills in her last three matches, hitting above .380 in the past two and posting the second-highest total (27 vs. Duke) of any ACC four-set match this season; she has also led the team in kills in all but four of 30 matches this season and has reached double-digits in 23 of those. Li additionally ranks among the Bears' top-five players in service aces, digs and blocks. She 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, Li 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 25 matches for the Bears after they lost senior Annalea Maeder to injury; she is currently fourth in the ACC with an average of 9.37 assists per set and also leads the team with 853 assists on the year and 11 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; in November, she notched 51 assists against Duke to tie for the second-highest total in an ACC four-set match. 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 21 of Cal's 30 matches so far and is sixth in the ACC with 432 on the year, averaging a fifth-place 4.04 per set to power a Cal defense that ranks second in the conference in both total digs and digs per set. Bartalo posted one of her best weekends 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; she bettered that two-game performance during the Bears' last home weekend against Virginia and Virginia Tech, recording 6.00 digs per set (43 total) across seven sets, including a 27-dig outing in the four-set contest against the Cavaliers. 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.
 
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 Xuemeng (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).
 
STAY POSTED
For complete coverage of Cal volleyball, please follow the Bears on X/Twitter (@CalVolleyball), Instagram (@calvolleyball), Facebook (Cal Volleyball) and TikTok (@calbearsvb).