BERKELEY – California volleyball gave No. 3 Pitt a serious battle Sunday afternoon, winning the first set and scoring 21 points in the third, but it was the Panthers (22-4, 14-2) who ultimately won the battle, 22-25, 25-13, 25-21, 25-12. The Golden Bears fell to 7-19 on the year and 4-12 in ACC play.
 
Freshman Arissa Carbonara led Cal with 15 kills, while Ashley Li and Peyton DeJardin each earned 10 apiece. Defensively, Sophia Johnson posted another standout performance with 14 digs and Mikayla Hayden recorded four blocks. Cal collected five service aces on the day, led by Maria Știrbu's career high of three.
 
Pitt's Sophia Gregoire paced the Panthers' offense with 20 kills on .690 hitting with zero errors, while teammate Blaire Bayless added another 15 kills and 2024 National Player of the Year Olivia Babcock recorded 12 to help the visitors hit .352 overall. Mallorie Meyer and Bre Kelley posted defensive match highs with 15 digs and seven blocks, respectively.
 
Cal held Pitt to its lowest hitting percentage of the match (.229) in Set One, taking a 2-0 lead out of the gate and never letting it change hands for the entire set. The Panthers were forced to use both of their timeouts early after the Bears went on a 5-1 run thanks to three of Carbonara's seven first-set kills and two consecutive aces from Stirbu, but Cal kept its momentum rolling with standout defense (led by Johnson's seven digs) and several key kills to end any comeback efforts. It was an ace from Hayden that sealed the deal for the Bears, making Cal the first unranked team to take a set off Pitt since Notre Dame did so on Oct. 17.
 
The visitors responded by posting their highest hitting percentage of the match in Set 2 after recording a service error on the first point, also putting a near-total clampdown on any attempts by the Bears to make a run and prevailing by 12 points to even up the match at one set apiece. Cal went down by six early in the third but ground out a fierce comeback attempt to cut the gap to three on multiple occasions, the first of which featured two straight blocks from Hayden. Li later posted her eighth kill of the match, a fierce cross-court attack, to shrink Cal's deficit to two at 23-21 before Pitt scored the next two points to take the set. The Panthers carried their energy into the fourth and final set, building an early nine-point lead that kept the Bears at bay until the end of the match.
 
 
UP NEXT
The Bears will travel to The Farm to face No. 5 Stanford (23-3, 14-1 ACC) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. PT, then host the Cardinal on Sunday at 1 p.m. for Cal's Senior Day.
 
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