BOULDER, Colo. – California volleyball bounced back from its Saturday night loss with a four-set win (25-16, 24-26, 25-16, 25-19) against UC Irvine on Sunday to close out the Buffs Invitational, heading back to the Bay Area with a record of 7-3 on the season and high hopes heading into its final two matches of nonconference play.
 
Three Golden Bears posted double-digit kills, with freshman Kate Mansfield leading the pack at 16 on a blistering .419 pace for a new career best; she was joined by Xuemeng (Maggie) Li and Peyton DeJardin, who posted 13 kills apiece. DeJardin also notched her third double-double of the season, adding 10 digs to her total, while Natalie Lau had her fourth double-double at 45 assists and 10 digs.
 
In addition to Mansfield, DeJardin and sophomore Sawyer Thomsen also posted new career highs, respectively earning five service aces and seven blocks. Gianna Bartalo (17) and Sophia Johnson (10) each recorded double-digit digs to join DeJardin and Lau.
 
The Bears started off the match by out-hitting the Anteaters (5-4) .385 to .100 in the first set, thanks in part to four kills apiece from Mansfield and Li. UC Irvine scored the first point off a Cal service error, but a quick kill from Li and a block from Thomsen and DeJardin allowed the Bears to take the lead for good. After growing their advantage to seven points at 12-5, Cal never allowed the Anteaters to come within more than four on the way to the set win.
 
UC Irvine's lone set win came off a very quiet offensive outing from both teams, with the Anteaters recording six blocks to keep the Bears down early. Cal trailed by as many as seven points late in the set (13-20), but soon afterward rallied for a 5-0 run to tie the score at 24 apiece; UC Irvine needed a kill and a block to escape the comeback effort.
 
Cal forced a veritable slew of Anteater errors in the third set, holding their opponents to .089 and jumping out to an immediate lead that they held the rest of the way. The Bears' offense roared back to life in the fourth, springing out to an immediate 5-0 lead and triggering an early timeout from UC Irvine; although the Anteaters put together a four-point run of their own soon afterward to shrink the gap to three, Cal took advantage of four straight errors for a subsequent 6-0 run to increase its lead to 18-9. At the end of the day, it was a Lau kill followed by one final error from UC Irvine that clinched the match for the Bears.           
 
UP NEXT
Cal returns home to Berkeley for its first home week of the season, first taking on Santa Clara on Sept. 18 followed by a match against UCLA on Sept. 21.
 
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