California volleyball has released its full schedule for the 2025 season, featuring seven matchups against teams who ended the 2024 season ranked in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) top 25 and four in the top five. The complete fall schedule can be seen here.
 
The Golden Bears will open their season at home, hosting the California Tournament on August 29-31 against San Diego State (Aug. 29) and San Francisco (Aug. 31) at Haas Pavilion.  Cal will also appear in the Ameritas Players Challenge in Lincoln, Nebraska, hosted by the powerhouse Cornhuskers, as well as the Cal Poly Tournament in San Luis Obispo.
 
The Vanderbilt Commodores, who just revived their volleyball program after a 45-year hiatus, will visit Berkeley Sept. 10 as part of ESPN Events' "Showdown at the Net" showcase that features 16 matches between ACC and SEC schools.
 
"When building our nonconference schedule, the staff and I wanted competitive RPI matches that gave us opportunities to collect wins that would help our chances to make the NCAA Tournament," Cal head coach Jen Malcom said. "We are particularly looking forward to playing at Nebraska in September – it's an amazing place to play with a sellout crowd of over 10,000 volleyball fans who know and respect the game. Our team needs to start seeing and playing in environments like that before we are put into that situation in the future. Overall, we feel very confident that we will be tested before heading into ACC matches."
 
Cal's ACC schedule begins with visits to Virginia Tech (Sept. 27) and Virginia (Sept. 28) before the Bears return home to host 2024 NCAA runner-up Louisville (Oct. 3) and Notre Dame (Oct. 5).
 
The Bears and cross-bay rival Stanford will play in their annual Big Spike matchups in late November, first at Stanford on Nov. 19 and then in Berkeley on Nov. 23, the latter of which will also act as Cal's Senior Day. Cal's next home match will be its last at Haas Pavilion, a clash against Boston College on Nov. 26, before closing out the regular season at Duke on Nov. 28.
 
"We feel ready as we head into year two of being in the ACC," Malcom said. "The conference could look very different this year due to graduation and transfers. After finishing 12th in the standings last year, we know that being in the top half is doable for our group this season."
 
In addition to Louisville and Stanford, the Bears will host two other teams that ended last year with a top-25 ranking (Pitt on Nov. 14 and SMU on Nov. 16), as well as NCAA Tournament teams Florida State (Oct. 18) and North Carolina (Nov. 9). In total, Cal will play seven of 2024's top-25 teams and 10 tournament squads, as the Bears are also set to visit USC on Sept. 21, Georgia Tech on Oct. 24 and NC State on Nov. 2.
 
Cal expects to field a stout defense this season, led by specialist Sophia Johnson as well as top blockers Sawyer Thomsen and Mikayla Hayden. On offense, setter Natalie Lau returns for her senior season after posting the ACC's fourth-highest assists and assists-per-set total as a first-year starter in 2024, while classmate Peyton DeJardin will provide a veteran presence on the left side. Looking for her chance to make an impact for the Bears this season is redshirt freshman Grace Agolli, the 2023-24 Gatorade Georgia Player of the Year who sat out last year due to injury; as well as lockdown defender Sophie Scott, who was one of the Pac-12's most prolific blockers in each of her first two years before also missing the entire 2024 season to injury.
 
The team will feature seven newcomers this season. Cal's five-women freshman class includes USA Volleyball (USAV) Nationals All-American defensive specialist Francesca Popescu, who joined the Bears in the spring, as well as USAV National Champion opposite Annemarie O'Gara, Texas Girls Coaches Association (TCGA) All-State outside hitter Arissa Carbonara, Romanian National Team setter Maria Știrbu and Triple Crown NIT Open Division Champion Elise Lau, a defensive specialist. The Bears' transfer class is composed of outside hitter Dominique Phills (Iowa) and middle blocker Ashleigh Woodruff (Stony Brook).
 
 
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