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No. 6 Cal Heads Back To Southern California
3/14/2024 2:32 PM | Beach Volleyball
Bears Set To Face Quartet Of Top-15 Teams
BERKELEY – The No. 6 California beach volleyball team carries its highest national ranking ever into this weekend's East Meets West Invitational hosted by No. 2 UCLA at Manhattan Beach. The field is made up of eight teams ranked in the top-17 nationally, including half of the top 10. The Golden Bears (9-3) are coming off a 3-1 showing at last weekend's Pac-12 South Tournament that ended with a 3-2 win over No. 11 Arizona State, its second of the year over a ranked opponent.
THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS
Friday, March 15
No. 8 LSU (8-1) | 9:30 a.m. | Live Stats
No. 4 Florida State (13-0) | 3 p.m. | Live Stats
Saturday, March 16
No. 15 Georgia State (9-4) | 11 a.m. | Live Stats
No. 13 Hawaii (6-5) | 3 p.m. | Live Stats
*All times PT
PAC-12 SOUTH TOURNAMENT RECAP
The Bears split their first two matches last Friday at ASU's Sun Devil Beach Volleyball Facility, earning an early-morning 5-0 sweep over Utah before falling to No. 2 Stanford 5-0. They bounced back quickly on Saturday, going a perfect 10-for-10 in sets against Oregon for the second straight time to open the day. After a quick cooldown, they went right back at it against the host Sand Devils, flying out to two opening-set victories and going on to take the first three matchups of the dual, sealing the eventual 3-2 win. It was Cal's second win in its last three tries against top-10 opposition.
THE SQUAD
The Bears 2024 roster includes 11 returners, three transfers and four true freshmen.
In her first year as a Bear in 2023, Sierra Caffo established herself as one of the team's top players. The San Diego native earned AVCA All-America honors after leading the team with 10 wins on court one and a 24-12 overall record. This past summer, she played for Team USA and won silver at the Norceca Beach Championship with her former LSU teammate Ella Larkin. Caffo is one of the team's three captains alongside senior Brooke Buchner and sophomore Gia Fisher.
Buchner is in her senior season after posting a .694 win percentage and 25 overall wins in 2023. Those are the second-highest marks among Cal's returners only to Alexandria Young-Gomez's .750 win percentage and 27 total victories. Lara Boos owns the most accomplished resume among the team's three transfers, having gone 29-6 last year with seven wins against top-20 teams.
PAIRED UP
Buchner earned her 71st career win as a Bear last weekend, good for most on the team. She and Boos have gone 9-2 to begin their partnership, while Sherman and Dreibholz are the first pair to reach double-digit victories at 10-2. The duo of freshman Emma Donley and Young-Gomez is out to a 9-3 start, going a perfect 6-0 on court one. Marilu Pally and Fisher are 8-4 overall and 6-0 on court two. Caffo and Kendall Peters debuted together over the past two weekends, going 2-4 on court one.
*2024 Cal Beach Volleyball Records
BEARS IN THE RANKINGS
After ending 2023 ranked seventh in the final AVCA poll, Cal entered this year with a No. 8 national ranking, three spots higher than its starting spot prior to the 2023 season. Following three weeks of action, the Bears have earned their first-ever top-6 ranking from CollegeBeachVB.com and the AVCA Coaches Poll. Cal is 2-3 against ranked opponents this year thanks to Sunday's 3-2 win over ASU and a 4-1 win over then-No. 5 Loyola Marymount on March 2.
GOLDEN DEBUTS
Cal began its season in Berkeley for just the third time in its 11-year history, claiming four 5-0 wins that were highlighted by the program debuts of seven different Bears. All three of the team's new transfers – sophomore Finley Rollins (UC Davis) and graduate students Lara Boos (LSU) and Kendall Peters (Tulane) – earned their first wins with the program, as did sophomores Amelia Vugrincic and Jenna Colligan and freshmen Emma Donley and Audrey Liddle. Sophomore Portia Sherman – who saw limited action during her freshman campaign – also had a standout performance with four match wins in her first official action at the Clark Kerr Sand Courts. Cal has now won 18 straight matches during its home-opening weeks since 2018.
2023 REWIND
In the program's 10th season ever, Cal won nine straight matches from March 4-12 – including four over ranked opponents – with six sweeps. The Bears later broke the program wins record with their 27th on April 27 with a 3-2 win over then-No. 3 USC and went on to enter the NCAA Championship with their highest seeding ever at No. 8. Their final win came in a 3-2 victory over ninth-seeded Long Beach State in the opening round of the NCAA Championship. One day later, they fell 3-1 to No. 1 seed and eventual NCAA runner-up UCLA.
THE SCHEDULE
This season, Cal will face the entire top 10 from the final 2023 AVCA poll as well as 13 of the 16 teams that qualified for last year's NCAA Championship. The Bears won't be back in Berkeley until a March 26 doubleheader against Feather River and Cal Poly. Cal's Senior Day will take place on April 12 against Sacramento State.
CAL TO JOIN MPSF IN 2025
It was announced last November that California beach volleyball will be one of seven programs moving to the MPSF for its inaugural season in 2025. Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington and Grand Canyon will make up the other six teams in the conference. Cal beach volleyball joins the Golden Bear men's and women's water polo and gymnastics teams in the MPSF.
THE STAFF
Meagan Owusu is in her eighth season in charge of the program in 2024. Under her leadership, the Bears have moved into the national conversation of NCAA beach volleyball, finishing 2023 with a program-record 29 wins and ranked in the top 12 for the sixth consecutive year.
Joseph Mayer is in his third season overall with the team. He became the program's first associate head coach last July, while Dancer Styles was promoted to assistant coach. The coaching trio helped bring Cal to new heights with its first NCAA Championship win in its second straight appearance last year.
STAY POSTED
For further coverage of Cal beach volleyball, follow the Bears on Instagram (@calbeachvb) and Twitter (@calbeachvb).
