BERKELEY – California volleyball begins its inaugural slate of ACC play this week, heading east to face No. 5 Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky, Friday evening before heading to South Bend, Indiana, to take on Notre Dame Sunday morning. Both matches will be broadcast on ACCNX.
 
The Golden Bears (8-4) split their first home series of the season last week, defeating Santa Clara in straight sets before suffering a sweep at the hands of UCLA three days later. Cal posted a season-high .341 hitting percentage in the first match, in which it also knocked down a season-best seven service aces.
 
Vs. No. 5 Louisville (8-2) – Sept. 27, 4 p.m. PT (L&N Federal Credit Union Arena)
Last Meeting: Sept. 24, 1983 at Nebraska Invitational (W, 3-0)
All-Time Record: 1-0
 
The Cardinals will be the second top-10 team that the Bears have faced this year and boast six reigning All-East Region players; two of those – libero Elena Scott and outside hitter Anna DeBeer – were named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Player of the Year Watch List last week, with both having earned Second-Team All-America honors in the 2023 season. Scott is currently tied for 27th in the nation, averaging 4.71 digs per set; meanwhile, 6-foot-6 senior middle blocker Cara Cresse is also ranked among the nation's top players, tied for a 28th-place 1.39 blocks per set. As a whole, the Cardinals rank 15th in the nation with 2.89 blocks per set, and have held opponents to just .164 hitting this year. Their only two losses of the season came against top-10 teams – No. 7 Penn State and No. 5 Nebraska; however, they have also beaten No. 3 Wisconsin and No. 9 Creighton, in addition to No. 11 Kentucky and No. 15 Tennessee.
 
Vs. Notre Dame (7-2) – Sept. 29, 10 a.m. PT (Purcell Pavilion)
Last Meeting – Sept. 13, 2008 at Diet Coke Classic Tournament (W, 3-2)
All-Time Record: 3-1
 
This will be Cal's first time playing the Fighting Irish in South Bend, with all four of the previous meetings between the teams taking place either at neutral-site tournaments or at Haas Pavilion. Notre Dame currently ranks third in the ACC with 15.12 digs per set; that number was bolstered by an ACC-high 99 digs in a five-set match against Mississippi State earlier this month. Senior setter Phyona Schrader commands the Fighting Irish offense with a nation-leading five triple-doubles on the season and was named ACC Setter of the Week on Sept. 16, while freshman middle blocker Anna Bjork ranks 15th in the NCAA with a .438 hitting percentage on 121 attacks.
 
 
LI LEADS
Sophomore outside hitter Xuemeng (Maggie) Li looks to take another step forward in her second year, following 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. In her freshman year, she 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. After four weeks of play, Li stands atop the ACC with 182 kills (4.14 kills per set, 4th ACC) and 204.5 points (4.65 points per set, 5th ACC). She has led the team in kills in all but two of 12 matches this season and has reached double-digits in 10 of those.
 
BREAKOUT YEAR FOR LAU
Junior setter Natalie Lau has started each of the past eight matches for the Bears and is currently third in the ACC with an average of 10.322 assists per set; she also leads the team with 289 assists on the year and four double-doubles. Her first collegiate start came on 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. She followed that up with another career performance three days later, recording four blocks against Wyoming in addition to 45 assists and 13 digs.
 
GLORY FOR GIANNA
Graduate transfer Gianna Bartalo, who spent her undergraduate career at Denver, has quickly become one of the Bears' top defensive players through the team's first four weeks of play. She has recorded double-digit digs in 11 of Cal's 12 matches so far, ranking second in the ACC with 196 on the year at a third-place clip of 4.45 per set. As a Pioneer, Bartalo was named All-Summit League Honorable Mention in her senior year and ranked seventh on Denver's all-time career list with an average of 3.73 digs per set.
 
FANTASTIC FRESHMAN
Middle blocker Kate Mansfield, a rookie from Plano, Texas, has been an offensive standout for Cal this season. The Plano, Texas, native has recorded six matches with a hitting percentage of over .300 and has posted consecutive games with double-digit kills twice this season – first against Saint Mary's (11, .474) and Wyoming (10, .333) in Week Three, then against UC Irvine (16, .419) and Santa Clara (11, .625) the following week; in the latter two matches, she led the entire team in kills. Mansfield is also stout on the defensive side of the net with 24 blocks on the year, including a five-block outing at Saint Mary's.
 
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 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).
 
 
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