CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The California volleyball team posted its second-straight win Sunday afternoon, dropping just one set at John Paul Jones Arena against a tough Virginia squad to improve to 5-7 on the year and 2-0 in ACC play. The Golden Bears held the Cavaliers (7-5, 0-2) to their lowest hitting percentage of the season (.016) in the win, posting set scores of 25-19, 25-16, 17-25 and 25-15.
 
Three Cal players reached double digits in kills, with Peyton DeJardin leading the team once again with 13. Freshman Arissa Carbonara contributed 11 off the bench, hitting a blistering .625 for the highest efficiency of any Bear this season with double-digit kills. Dominique Phills added another 10 kills, including seven in the first set.
 
Rookie setter Maria Știrbu posted her second double-double of the year with 37 assists and 11 digs. On the defensive side of the ball, Sophia Johnson recorded 21 digs for her fifth-straight double-digit performance, while Mikayla Hayden led the court with eight blocks. Freshman Francesca Popescu was strong at the service line, notching three fourth-set aces.
 
Virginia's attack was led by freshman Reagan Ennist, who tied DeJardin with a match-high 13 kills, while setters Hannah Scott (11 assists, 12 digs) and Zoey Dood (14 assists, four kills, three blocks) each made their mark on the stats sheet. Kate Dean led the Cavaliers with six blocks.
 
"We came into practice this week with the mentality that it's a new season, we're 0-0 in the ACC," head coach Jen Malcom said. "We battled a lot in preseason and have a lot of experience. Winning yesterday helped our confidence and gave us the ability to come out and do what we did today to finish the weekend with two big wins on the road."
 
Phills was the biggest star of the first set with her seven kills, posting a red-hot .778 hitting percentage after the Bears went down by three to start off the set. Cal took the lead for good on an early 10-2 run, fending off a four-point comeback effort by the Cavaliers and posting an 8-1 scoring run (capped off by an off-the-block kill from Phills) to earn the 1-0 set advantage.
 
Cal's Set Two offense belonged to DeJardin (six kills, .417) and Hayden (five kills, .429) as the Bears never trailed and hit .312 as a team. The former collected four of her kills in a big 10-1 run that stretched the score to 11-2, after which Cal ground out their next several points one- and two-at-a-time to increase its lead to 11. Virginia only scored more than two-straight points on one occasion, a three-point sequence to cut the gap to eight at 18-10, eventually giving the set to Cal via an Ennist attack error.
 
The Cavaliers responded in a big way in Set Three, holding Cal to just .056 and winning by eight points thanks to an early nine-point run that eliminated the 5-0 advantage that the Bears had built. Carbonara entered the game for the first time, hitting six of her kills with zero errors (.667) while Johnson had her best set of the match with nine digs and a perfect 1.000 percentage on 11 receptions. Virginia attempted to carry its momentum into the fourth to force Set Five, but Cal went on a quick 9-1 run that allowed it to fend off another five-point Cavaliers surge that cut the gap to one (13-12). The Bears broke things open immediately afterwards, scoring nine of the next ten points; finally, it was Hayden who sealed the win, slamming her ninth kill of the day into the open middle court.
 
 
 
UP NEXT
The Bears will host No. 6 Louisville (9-2, 1-0) at Haas Pavilion on Friday night at 7 p.m. PT, where they will also honor legendary program alumna Carli Lloyd by retiring her jersey in a pre-match ceremony. Notre Dame (4-6, 1-1) will visit Sunday at 1 p.m. to close out the weekend.
 
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