BERKELEY – California volleyball welcomed Santa Clara to Haas Pavilion on Wednesday night and gave Golden Bear fans a treat in the team's 2024 home opener, defeating the Broncos (4-5) in straight sets, 25-10, 25-23, 25-19, to improve to 8-3 on the season.
 
Freshman Kate Mansfield led Cal in kills for the second-consecutive match, posting 11 on .625 hitting; junior Mikayla Hayden (.571) and sophomore Xuemeng (Maggie) Li (.444) were not far behind with nine apiece. Both Li (11) and senior Gianna Bartalo (13) recorded double-digit digs on the night, an achievement that Bartalo has reached in every match this season. Li also impressed on the service line, earning three aces to lead the team.
 
Cal dominated the first set, answering the first Santa Clara point with an 11-point run and hitting .429 overall while holding the Broncos to -.032 on the way to victory. Although the Bears started off the next set in strong fashion, jumping out to a 3-0 lead, Santa Clara quickly tied up the score and kept pace with Cal throughout the entire set, forcing 10 ties and 4 lead changes while holding the home team to just .175. Although Hayden and Li contributed the majority of Cal's kills in that set, it was Mansfield who finally shut the door with her sixth kill of the night to put the Bears up two sets to none.
 
Cal's offense returned with a vengeance in the third, hitting .542 overall and taking an early 7-3 lead off a four-point run. Li's sixth kill triggered the first Santa Clara timeout at 9-4, while Mansfield's ninth forced the Broncos' second timeout at 16-11; despite the visitors later closing the gap to three points, the Bears were eventually able to rediscover their momentum and pull away, finishing things off – once again – with Mansfield's final kill of the night.
 
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The Bears will host UCLA (5-2) at Haas Pavilion for its annual Dig Pink match. First serve is scheduled for 1 p.m. PT.
 
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