BERKELEY – The California volleyball team lost in straight sets to Notre Dame on Sunday at Haas Pavilion, bringing its record to 5-9 on the year and 2-2 in ACC play. The Fighting Irish improved to 5-7 (2-2) on the year after posting scores of 25-23, 25-17 and 25-14 to take the win.
 
Peyton DeJardin led the Bears with nine kills and added two service aces, while Maria Știrbu recorded team highs of 24 assists and seven digs as well as two aces of her own. Grace Agolli posted a career-high six kills, hitting .556 on the day after coming off the bench in the second set.
 
The Fighting Irish's balanced attack included 11 kills (.320) and four service aces from Morgan Gaerte as well as nine kills apiece from Mae Kordas (.500) and Sydney Helmers (.304).
 
DeJardin knocked down eight of her kills at a .400 clip in the first set, helping the Bears stay competitive in a fierce battle that saw a total of 11 tie scores. Cal took a five-point lead at 12-7 off DeJardin's third kill, but Notre Dame eventually went on a five-point run that included four kills to tie the score at 18-18. DeJardin's eighth kill gave Cal its final lead of the match at 23-22, after which the Fighting Irish scored the next three to claim the first set.
 
Notre Dame scored the first three points of Set Two (the first of their five runs of three-or-more scores) to set the tone, while Cal only put together one such sequence despite the emergence of Agolli and her four second-set kills. The visitors rode that momentum into the third set, claiming the first four points and posting a sideout percentage of 85 percent to keep the Bears from settling into a groove before finishing off the sweep.
 
 
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The Bears will go back on the road for their next two matches, visiting Syracuse (10-4, 2-2) on Friday and Boston College (12-4, 1-3) on Sunday.
 
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