BERKELEY – Down two sets to none at Haas Pavilion, the California volleyball team faced its fifth-straight defeat and its fourth-straight loss at home – but there was magic in the air on Thursday night as the Golden Bears (6-11, 3-4 ACC) righted themselves against No. 14 Miami and pulled out a dramatic five-set victory (16-25, 14-25, 25-19, 25-22, 15-12) over the Hurricanes, who dropped to 15-3 (5-2) on the season.
 
The win marked Cal's second reverse sweep of the year and its first over a ranked team since 1988 (No. 11 Pacific), as well as the Bears' first win over a ranked opponent since the 2020-21 season (No. 15 Stanford) and their first over a foe ranked No. 14 or higher since 2015 (No. 14 Arizona State).
 
"I'm just super proud," head coach Jen Malcom said. "They needed that, they deserved that. The last three sets were definitely what Cal volleyball is, and we need to come out that way every time."
 
For the second time in three matches, Mikayla Hayden recorded a double-double, posting 12 kills on .450 hitting and 10 blocks on the night, while Peyton DeJardin led the team with 19 kills and added five blocks, tying with Dominique Phills for second-most on the team in the latter category. Ashley Li had another solid outing with 12 kills, averaging .320 on the night.
 
Freshman setter Maria ?tirbu posted a double-double of her own with 45 assists and 10 digs, the latter of which was tied with classmate Francesca Popescu for a team best.
 
Miami's national kills-per-set leader Flormarie Heredia Colon led both teams with 28 kills on the night and had three of the Hurricanes' 10 service aces.
 
As a team, Cal out-hit Miami .210 to .163 and out-blocked the Hurricanes 14.0 to 7.0. Its offensive efficiency improved in every set, from a Set One starting point of .080 to a Set Five pace of .538.
 
Hayden posted five of her blocks in the first set (four of them in a late 6-1 scoring run) but an 11-point deficit was too much for the Bears to overcome as Miami scored the next three points to earn the 1-0 set advantage. The Hurricanes' offense exploded in Set Two thanks in no small part to the efforts of Heredia Colon, who recorded five kills (.714) to help her team hit .400 and surge ahead to win by 11 and go up 2-0 on the night.
 
Set Three brought a change of pace, as Cal used all three of its defensive specialists (Popescu, Sophia Johnson and Elise Lau) on the court at the same time for the first time all year, shutting down the Hurricanes' offense as the visitors hit just .037. A tremendous 7-1 scoring run by the Bears finally broke open the set for good, after which Cal increased its lead to eight by scoring six straight points to fend off a Miami comeback effort before eventually clinching the set thanks to a Hayden kill.
 
The fourth set featured a match-high nine tie scores, the first of which occurred at 3-3 after Cal responded to Miami's early lead by taking advantage of a pair of Hurricane errors. The final tie manifested at 19-19, just one point after Miami called its first timeout of the set, but the Bears smelled blood and scored six of the next nine points (capped off by another kill from Hayden) to send the match to Set Five.
 
The final set belonged to Li, who hit .833 with five kills (including the first point of the set) and zero errors. Her 10th kill of the night, a ferocious cross-court attack, gave Cal an 8-6 mid-set advantage that proved insurmountable for the Hurricanes. Cal let Miami score just thrice more as a key block off the hands of Hayden and freshman Annemarie O'Gara brought the Bears to match point at 14-9 – and two points later, as they watched Miami's serve sail out of bounds, another piece of history was made.
 
 
UP NEXT
The Bears will host Florida State (8-8, 2-5) at Haas Pavilion on Saturday at 4 p.m. PT.
 
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