CORAL GABLES, Fla. – California volleyball hoped to snap a five-game losing streak Sunday in the program's first-ever matchup with Miami, but the Hurricanes (16-7, 7-5 ACC), riding high off a Friday-night five-set win over No. 5 Stanford, carried that momentum into their match with the Golden Bears (10-14, 2-10) and winning 25-16, 25-21, 25-17.
 
Sophomore Xuemeng (Maggie) Li paced the Bears with 12 kills and seven digs on the day. She led all players with five kills on .300 hitting in the first set – including the first kill of the match – but an early five-point run followed by a six-point run for the Hurricanes forced Cal to take two timeouts by the time the score reached 11-2, Miami; it was a deficit that the Bears found insurmountable, with the gap at one point stretching out to 12.
 
The Blue & Gold kept things close in the second set, first taking an early 3-1 advantage thanks to two quick kills from sophomore Sawyer Thomsen before Miami responded with six-consecutive points. Cal rallied to close the gap to one point three times before finally tying the score at 18-18; Li's eighth and ninth kills subsequently forced two further ties at 19-19 and 20-20. From there, however, the Hurricanes found their mettle to close out Set Two on a 5-1 scoring run, then continued to ride their offense through to the third set, overcoming seven service errors and an early 9-8 Cal lead with a furious offensive pace of .357 to close out the match.
 
UP NEXT
Cal will host No. 17 Georgia Tech (17-4, 9-3) Friday evening and Clemson (8-15, 0-12) Saturday night at Haas Pavilion.
 
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