Bears Begin Final Road Trip of Regular Season in Corvallis

The last few weeks have been a see-saw for the No. 15 Cal volleyball team.

Over the past two months, the Bears (17-8, 6-8 in the Pac-10) have won three, lost four, won three and then lost three matches in a row. Most recently, the Bears swept the Arizona schools for the first time since 1989, but then lost at home to No. 3 Stanford, No. 6 UCLA and No. 4 USC.

This weekend could be the chance for the Bears to gain at least a little momentum heading into the home stretch. Cal begins the final portion of its regular-season schedule against Oregon State tonight, at 7 p.m. at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis, Ore.

This weekend in Oregon will be the team’s last road trip of the season before two games at home to finish out the regular season.

The trip has been a wet one thus far, as the Bears arrived Wednesday to pouring rain. Cal coach Rich Feller said that the weather has the team eager to return to Berkeley, but not after taking care of business.

The last time the Beavers (3-20, 0-14) squared off against the Bears, Cal won in a sweep at Haas Pavilion on Oct. 20. The Bears have won six of the teams’ last seven encounters, with Oregon State stunning Cal, 3-2, last year in Berkeley.

Overall, the Bears are 32-17 against the Beavers, who are led by Taras Liskevych, who Feller assisted at Pacific from 1980-83. Last time, the student bested the teacher, but Feller does not count out his old boss, especially this late in the season.

“They’re not having a very good year, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t turn it around at any time,” Feller said. “It’s a Pac-10 match on the road, so we’re going to take them very seriously.”

Cal has been led of late by junior middle hitter Ellen Orchard, who stole the show against the Bruins and Trojans last weekend, hitting .327 with 23 kills and a team-best 14 total blocks over two matches. Junior Angie Pressey was her usual self, notching 32 kills overall and averaging 4.57 kills per game.

“(Orchard) did very, very well,” Feller said. “She’s hitting the ball hard and making some great blocking moves.”

If the Bears are to advance far in the NCAA tournament, they would need to take this opportunity to get rolling, especially with No. 2 Washington on the horizon next week.

“Washington is a long ways away right now,” Feller said. “This is an opportunity to play a couple of teams that are not ranked above us nationally, so I think we can gain confidence from (tonight’s) match if we play well, and then gain some more confidence against Oregon.”

Tags: