BERKELEY – The California volleyball team hosted No. 5 Stanford in front of thousands of fans at a raucous Haas Pavilion on Sunday afternoon, battling hard but ultimately losing in three (25-18, 25-14, 25-17) to the Cardinal, who improved to 25-4 (16-2 ACC) on the year while the Golden Bears fell to 7-21 (4-14). Following the conclusion of the match, the Bears celebrated the careers of their five seniors: Cherlin Antonio, Peyton DeJardin, Mikayla Hayden, Natalie Lau and Sophie Scott.
 
Cal's offense was led by freshman Arissa Carbonara, who recorded a match-high 10 kills. Both of Cal's starting middle blockers had solid performances, as Hayden posted eight kills on .500 hitting (with three kills at .750 in each of the last two sets) and three blocks while Scott collected a season-high six kills.
 
In a repeat of last Wednesday's clash between the two teams, Stanford's attack was commanded by Julia Blyashov (nine kills) and Elia Rubin (eight kills). Defensively, Erika Sayer led the court with six blocks and Spencer Etzler totaled 11 digs.
 
The Cardinal out-hit the Bears, .276 to .133, and posted 14 service aces to Cal's one. Six of those aces came in the first set, which helped Stanford jump out to a lead after a back-and-forth start before utilizing an efficient offense to maintain that advantage on the way to the set win. Both teams' defenses played at their best in Set Two, but Cal's attack was unable to establish any sort of momentum while Stanford found its footing late, putting together an 8-2 run and go up two sets to none.
 
The first scoring run of the final set belonged to Cal, thanks to two consecutive kills from Carbonara, while a block from Hayden and Dominique Phills helped stretch the Bears' advantage to two points. Cal led as late as 11-10 and stayed within two for several more points, but one final five-point streak by the Cardinal eventually sealed the deal and ended any hope of a comeback by the home squad.
 
 
UP NEXT
The Bears will host Boston College (16-14, 5-13) on Wednesday at Haas Pavilion for their home finale, with first serve scheduled for 1 p.m. PT. They will then close out their season at Duke (5-24, 2-16) on Friday at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET.
 
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