Carlos Caceres/Staff

The only thing the Cal volleyball team has been able to consistently count on this season has been its inconsistent play.

In this season alone, the Bears have lost in upsets to the likes of UC Davis and Kansas State. Yet, they’ve swept then-No. 16 UCLA and and then-No. 19 Creighton. It’s been the kind of year that has fans scratching their heads.

In Cal’s (10-5, 3-3 Pac-12) latest tilt, they will need to play as consistently as possible to top No. 6 Washington (13-1, 5-1) on Wednesday night in Seattle. It’s not an impossible order, as Cal recently pushed USC, the current top team in the country, to a fifth set in which the Bears were just two points away from victory.

Accomplishing the upset will just depend on which Cal squad shows up.

“It’s a mental thing,” said outside hitter Michelle Neumayr on the team’s inconsistency this season. “It’s obviously easier for us to get pumped up and play against a No. 2 team than it is for Davis. But we’re working on being consistent, and we have to take every team the same way.”

The Bears’ most recent battle with inconsistent play came when the team fell in four sets to Utah on Sunday night. In that match, the Utes’ blockers were able to push the Bears into a season-low hitting percentage of .192 off of 13 blocks.

The Huskies play a similar style of volleyball as the Utes, so if the Bears can learn from the mistakes they made Sunday, they should come into Seattle better prepared. Washington runs a 6-2 offense like that of the Utes, in which two setters are on the court at once. Washington is also a good blocking team, with an average of 2.69 blocks per set, just .13 fewer than Utah.

“We certainly saw the need for having our right-side and left-side blockers help out more when the ball is set to the middle area of the court,” said Cal coach Rich Feller. “If we start going wide, then it’s one-on-one in the middle, and the result against Utah was that their middle blockers had a field day.”

The Bears will need their outside blockers, such as Christina Higgins, to step up in order to stop Washington’s attack. Higgins has recorded .78 blocks per set, the best number for a player who isn’t a middle blocker.

“Our X-factor is Christina and her huge block,” Neumayr said. “Her offense has been awesome as well, but we’ll definitely need her block against Washington.”

Higgins’ play could end up being the key factor as the Cal team tries to get its hitting back on track as well as stop outside hitters such as Krista Vansant, who is averaging 3.85 kills per set for the Huskies.

Doing that is obviously much easier said than done. Earlier this season, the Washington team was ranked No. 1 before a shocking loss to Colorado early in October. Since that loss, the Huskies have dropped only one set in three matches.

For the Bears, overcoming those odds begins in the mind as a mental struggle with their own inconsistency.

Riley McAtee covers volleyball. Contact him at rmcatee@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @riley_mcatee

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Matthew Lee/File

No. 5 UCLA wounded Cal volleyball’s chances of receiving a bid in the NCAA tournament.

The Bruins (21-5,13-4) swept the Bears at the Wooden Center in Los Angeles Thursday night, giving the latter their 14th sweep of the season.

Although the Bears (14-14, 8-10 in Pac-12) notched a solid .299 hitting percentage for the night, the Bruins’ own remarkable .537 was the highest percentage the Bruins have hit in at least a decade.

To put things in perspective, prior to the Cal match, the Bruins’ hitting percentage was .299 — the fourth-best in the nation.

“We did not serve enough early and that gave them rhythm,” Cal coach Rich Feller said. “When they’re hitting like that, there’s not much you can do.”

In the first set, the home team got off to a strong 3-2 lead. Paced primarily by outside hitters Rachael Kidder and Tabi Love, UCLA then carried its lead all the way up to 11-5.

The Bears called a timeout, but before they could find their footing, Cal’s opponent had quickly extended the lead to 17-9.

“(Love) was hitting high and over and around our blocks,” Gehan said. “We weren’t able to dig the balls we should have.”

Love wrecked all hopes for Cal, raking in six kills the first set. UCLA ultimately won the set, 25-16.

“I think we had a little bit of nerves going into the first game,” junior outside hitter Adrienne Gehan said. “We did not do a good job of making adjustments on the block, and the mentality of our defense was missing.”

Cal’s two largest leads were 8-5 and 13-10 in the second set. But Love racked another one to help the Bruins tie the game at eight.

The second set kept swinging back and forth. UCLA scored three in a row to tie the game at 13. Then an out-of-bounds error by sophomore outside hitter Christina Higgins tied the game at 18.

Although Cal had a chance to take the lead, the Bruins promptly scored three straight and finally took the second set, 25-22.

“UCLA pushed harder than we did,” Feller said. “We got tentative when we were close or tied in points.”

The Bruins started the third set with a 10-7 lead. Freshman setter Becca Strehlow’s passing helped Love and middle blocker Zoe Nightingale score two kills apiece, pushing a 7-1 Bruin run.

“(UCLA) certainly did not let its guard down (in the third set),” Feller said. “There was some good volleyball by us but more by them.”

A Cal serving error into the net gave UCLA the extra momentum it needed to finish out the game. The Bruins had taken the last set 25-18 and won the game in just 78 minutes.  The Bears now go on to play No. 8 USC on its home court Friday at 7 p.m.

“We have to decide what we’re all about and play like we have nothing to lose,” Feller said of the impending matchup.

Andrew Davis covers volleyball. wdavis@dailycal.org

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Matthew Lee/File

Cal senior Kat Brown could not stand to see her team squander away an opportunity to upset No. 5 Washington on Wednesday night.

Following the battle with the  Huskies, Brown’s expression said it all. She would not let Cal (14-12, 8-8) lay an egg against last-place Washington State (12-16, 2-14) on Thursday night at Haas Pavilion.

She didn’t disappoint.

The senior middle blocker set a new career high in blocks with 12. Brown’s performance not only left her 12 blocks short of the all-time Cal career record — it propelled the Bears to the 3-1 (25-18, 23-25, 25-18, 25-23) victory over the Cougars.

“I was really upset after we lost Wednesday night,” Brown said. “I came in knowing we had to win.”

Brown had a strong first frame, leading the team with four kills while also contributing on three block attempts.

Despite Brown’s play, the first set was won primarily on the fact that Washington State shot itself in the foot and committed eight errors.

At 8-7, Cal went on a 4-0 run with every point coming off an attack error by a Cougar. Brown played a role in intimidating the Cougar offense en route to a 25-18 set win.

The Cougars began the second set with a 9-3 run, leaving the Bears stunned.

Slowly, the Bears clawed their way back into contention, pulling within one at 21-20. The Bears were able to survive one set point, only to fall, 25-23, on their own serve and thus head into the break tied 1-1.

“We dropped the second set because they outworked us,” Feller said. “We shouldn’t have dropped that set.”

To begin the third set, Cal decided to work the left side, feeding sophomore Christina Higgins multiple opportunities. Higgins cashed in on four attempts in the first 13 points.

At 14-13, the squads embarked on a rally that lasted for more than a minute. As both teams tried to get that last kill, the players struggled to put any velocity behind the ball after a minute of running and diving. Finally, Hawari put an end to the point with a well-placed shot.

“You have a long, hard rally like that, winning it is big emotional lift and momentum shift,” Feller said.

Following the physically draining point, Cal launched a 10-5 run to win the set, 25-18.

At the outset of the fourth frame, Washington State proved it was not going to just submit. By the 18th point, the teams were tied, 9-9.

“We need to respect that each team in the Pac-12 will fight tooth and nail, even if they don’t have a number in front of their name,” Feller said.

By the time the score read 20-16 in favor of the Bears, the squad looked poised to finally seal the deal. Cal won the 21st point, and the athlete who sealed it was none other than Brown, who recorded her final block of the night.

Although it took four tries at set point, Cal eventually won the frame, 25-23 — and with it the match.

Brown, on the best night of her career, was all smiles after.

Austin Crochetiere covers volleyball. Contact him at acrochetiere@dailycal.org

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Matthew Lee/File

Despite sweeping Arizona 3-0 on Friday, Cal faced one of its most disappointing tilts of the season in a nail-biting 3-2 loss against Arizona State on Sunday.

Cal’s loss drops it back to a .500 winning percentage, quickly dwindling the squad’s NCAA tournament hopes.

In the first set against Arizona State, the Bears  (11-11, 5-7 in Pac-12) initially conducted the pace. By finding gaps in the Sun Devils’ defense, the Bears led 10-2.

But an Arizona State offense led by Macy Gardner, who paces the Pac-12 in kills, recorded a whopping 19 kills in the first set. Despite 10 errors from the Sun Devils, it was their stifling offense that helped Arizona State take a 24-23 lead.

And instead of Cal’s outside hitter Christina Higgins laying a safe hit on set point, Higgins hit the ball behind Arizona State’s backline.

“It’s sad we could not sustain the early-game energy,” Cal head coach Rich Feller said. “The momentum changed significantly because we could not take game one.”

But Cal came into the second set ready to improve subpar performance in the first set. Middle hitter Correy Johnson started off the offense with a spike the Sun Devils could not grasp position of, giving the Bears the early lead.

However, every time the Bears started to build a lead against the Sun Devils, Arizona State would call a timeout, killing the Bears’ offensive momentum.

And while the Bears entered an Arizona State timeout with a 17-14 lead, the Sun Devils came out with hard serves to the backside and open gap kills and tied at 23.

But this time around, instead of falling short, the Bears closed the set when Adrienne Gehan racked two kills, giving the Bears a close 25-23 win.

In the third set, the Bears’ defensive presence faltered because Cal could not make successful blocks or digs.

Taking advantage of the Bears’ defensive slip-up, Gardner and outside hitter Erica Wilson helped the Sun Devils rack 18 kills.

By hitting the ball deep into the Bears’ backcourt, the Sun Devils took an easy 25-18 third-set win.

“We need to pick up the balls in the back row,” said senior Shannon Hawari. “We also need to read where we think they are going to hit the ball better.”

Despite trailing 2-1 in sets, the perfectly timed blocks of Johnson and Hawari carried the Bears into the fourth set. But when the Bears took a 3-0 lead in the final set, ASU called a timeout and promptly took an 8-7 lead afterward.

“We have some younger players, and being in a close fifth set is an uncomfortable situation,” Hawari said. “They need to not be so tentative.”

With her team trailing 11-8, Hawari added to her career-high 18 kills and 12 blocks by scoring three consecutive points for the Bears.

With an 11-11 tie, both teams went back and forth until the game was tied at 14 points apiece.
Wilson then locked in two blazing kills, giving the Sun Devils a nail-biting win over Cal.

“It’s a steep uphill climb now,” Feller said. “It’s hard for them to have confidence after losing a close one like this.”

Andrew Davis covers volleyball. wdavis@dailycal.org

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Matthew Lee/Staff

During the 30th point of the second set, Cal’s inexperience reared its ugly head in their 3-0 loss to No. 7 UCLA on Sunday in Haas Pavillion.

Freshmen Lara Vukasovic and Mary McKennon watched the ball float in their direction, trying to call each other off. Neither girl heard the other, eventually running into each other and giving UCLA the point and a five point lead at 18-13.

Injuries to junior Adrienne Gehan and junior Robin Rostratter forced the freshmen into the match. And their inexperience showed.

“With players that have a little more experience there is a sense of trust on the floor,” senior Shannon Hawari said. “When its new people out there and communication isn’t quite there, there is going to be hesitation.”

Inexperience was the reason the Cal volleyball team (9-9, 3-5) dropped their match against the Bruins, ending a frustrating homestand without winning a single set against both UCLA (13-4, 5-3) and No. 6 USC on Friday.

“I don’t feel like UCLA or USC played their A-game against us,” coach Rich Feller said. “The frustration is that we didn’t take advantage of a good opportunity to win a set, maybe even a match.”

In the first set the Bears had trouble blocking the Bruins shots, not registering a single  successful block.

“We were jumping before they were jumping so their outsides were able to hit ball as our blockers were coming down,” Feller said.

After a powerful strike and ace for UCLA, the lead was pushed to seven at 19-12, the biggest of the set.

Cal was able to pull within four at 21-17, but Bruins outside hitter Tabi Love would not let it get any closer. Love recorded eight kills and a service ace, helping UCLA to the 25-18 set victory.

The second set played out very similarly to the first set. The Bears blocking struggled  and to add on to that, the team was made multiple unforced errors and service mistakes.

Cal dropped the second set 25-21, but the Bruins had to only make 13 kills since the rest were given to them through Bear mistakes.

In the third set, Cal played with urgency and more organization. Cal jumped out to a 10-4 lead behind three straight points from outside hitter Christina Higgins.

Paramount to the Bear’s success was that the team finally keyed in on Love defensively, slowing her down with better rotations and double blocks. In one instance, UCLA setter Megan Moena attempted a cross court feed to Love, but the Bears shifted and stuffed her attempt.

Yet very soon after, UCLA made an unfathomable 16-5 run, sending every Cal kill attempt came crashing right back down into the Bears’ faces.

The Bruins were rolling, quickly dousing the fire Cal had kindled.

“We just stopped playing,” Hawari said. “We were up and then we stopped competing.”

Before the Bears could blink, they were down 15-20, eventually falling in the set 25-18.

After the game, the players had a team meeting trying to reorganize before their upcoming road trip against the Washington schools.

“We have hold ourselves accountable, keeping the standard high for the younger players who don’t realize how hard we have to work,” Hawari said. “Because right now, it’s not good enough for this conference.”

Austin Crochetiere covers volleyball. Contact him at acrochetiere@dailycal.org

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Michael Tao/File

Cal women’s volleyball head coach Rich Feller knew exactly what Stanford was going to bring to the table in the Big Spike in Stanford’s Maples Pavilion on Thursday night.

Three straight sets later, the No. 6 Cardinal never strayed from their original strategy and emerged victorious (25-15, 25-17, 28-26).

The Cal scouting report had been spot-on; Stanford (9-2,1-0) was going to hit short balls when Cal put up its blocks or find openings for strikes. The Bears (6-5, 0-1) failed to execute their game plan of using their off-blocker to search out those short balls and dropped their Pac-12 opener as a consequence.

“We knew what they were going to do, they did it, and we couldn’t do anything about it,” Feller said. “That’s extremely frustrating.”

In what proved to be another vexing night in a challenging early season for the Bears, a slow start became the ultimate downfall for Cal.

Cal took the court in front of 2,011 unfamiliar fans, knowing full well what Stanford was going to try to do. Yet as had become a recurring problem, Cal came out flat-footed and failed to take advantage of its pregame preparations.

Stanford came out firing, jumping on the Bears 6-1 in the first set and quickly stretching the lead to 15-6. The Cardinal were not doing anything unexpected, they were simply executing their short ball shots and Cal was not snuffing it out.

“The separation they got at the beginning was all it took to win that first set,” Feller said.

Stellar passing by Stanford led to openings for powerful strikes from Cardinal outside hitters. Cal was slow to react to Stanford’s ball movement and suffered as a result.

Although Cal was able to pull within five at 20-15 in the first frame, the energy they had accumulated during that 9-5 stretch vanished shortly after.

“We didn’t maintain momentum when we had chances and we didn’t regain it when we had chances,” Feller said.

The second set was initially closer than the first, in large part due to Cal outside hitter Christina Higgins. Higgins notched a kill to tie the game up at 5-5 while providing effective sets on many other points.

Stanford once again began to create some distance between itself and the Bears. Back-to-back kills by Higgins brought the team to within six at 19-13, but Stanford’s balance of short and powerful shots would prove to be too much, helping the Cardinal to a 25-17 set victory.

The third set was a down-to-the-wire battle, with neither team establishing more than a three-point lead. Cal seemed more in aware of Stanford set pieces and their game benefitted as a result.

“Tactically we became more aware of what the game situations were and were able to react better,” Feller said. “Paid more attention, became more aware.”

Cal’s sixth point came from a blistering strike from Shannon Hawari, an emphatic statement from the Bear’s side. It was the beginning of a strong frame from Hawari, who took advantage of Stanford’s focus on Corey Johnson.

“Stanford shut (Johnson) down because they were keying on her and she wasn’t finding her rhythm,” Feller said. “(Hawari) was a little more open.”

Stanford led at 24-23 and had only one more point to complete the sweep. However, a service error and a kill by Cal’s Adrienne Gehan swung the tables in the Bears’ favor.

However, a Cal service error knotted the game back up and Stanford was able to close out the last two points.

“There was a lot of frustration in the locker room afterwards,” Feller said. “They didn’t change their lineup or empty their bench. If we had played the way we did in set three in sets one and two we might still be playing.”

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In the tournament in Honolulu, Hawaii, Cal (2-3) dropped two of three matches to unranked teams , providing the catalyst that knocked it out of the top 25. But in their last match, the Bears pulled an upset victory against No. 6 Hawaii, helping them stay in the hunt and showed the potential this team carries.

“For the new players, they got to see that, ‘oh, we can do it,’ match” head coach Rich Feller said. “We are going to try and work off that and put our 100 percent forward and try to win the tournament.”

This weekend, Cal will try and rebound from recent disappointing resultsin its first home matches against Northern Arizona, UC Riverside and Pennsylvania in the Molten Classic.

The Bears were ranked No. 1 for about a month last season, and as a result, the expectations from then still carry on to this season. Although the record so far has been a disappointment, Feller has tried to focus his concentration more on the level of play rather than the results.

“I think the main reason we didn’t win was because we weren’t playing together,” Feller said. “We had a few key players out, and that hurt us, so I’m not too worried right now.”

These injuries, primarily to senior Correy Johnson, who missed a few months with a foot injury, have hindered the Bears’ progress so far. With Johnson slowly recovering from her leg injury, the Bears will be able to play a nearly completely healthy lineup for the first time this season.

None of these teams the Bears play are ranked, but the Bears’ problems have not been their opponents. Feller has been forced to go to his bench so far this season, and the team has been playing without any sort of harmony.

“In our losses so far, we weren’t playing to our expectations and looking for someone else to step up,” sophomore outside hitter Christina Higgins said. “So we really want to figure out what works and play to our full potential in every game.”

All of the teams coming to this tournament have better records than Cal, especially Northern Arizona which is entering this weekend with a perfect 6-0 record. Despite their opponents’ success, the Bears believe they have what it takes to come out on top.

“A successful tournament for us will be to win all of our matches,” Higgins said.

This weekend will be a perfect opportunity for Cal to get back on track and build off of the momentum it has gained after a big victory against Hawaii. But for now, the coaches and players are not very worried, as long as the Bears can keep rolling.

And if Cal can indeed start rolling this weekend, perhaps it will vault back to its top 25 domain.

Karan Karia covers volleyball. Contact him at kkaria@dailycal.org.

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Eugene W. Lau/File

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It’s hard to find a silver lining that shone throughout Cal’s implosion in the final three sets to fall to Oregon on Saturday. But Tarah Murrey was that star.

That’s not a statement that could be made after most games this year. The senior has largely not been the sheer dominant force that she was last year, blasting balls at helpless liberos and tearing through opposing blocks. This season, Murrey has had some impressive displays of brute strength and glimpses of finesse, but it has not been in every game on nearly every play like last year.

On Saturday night, the senior came out to play. Murrey put away 22 balls, and while her .250 hitting percentage didn’t jump off the stats page, she was clearly the most dominant force on the court.

“Tarah played an exceptional match tonight,” coach Rich Feller said after Saturday’s loss. “That’s a bright spot for us this late in the season for her to play that hard that long, and be as efficient as she was.”

It was Senior Night, and the El Cerrito, Calif., native had an incredibly large contingent, including her extended relatives and former club coaches, there cheering her on. But Murrey said she didn’t bring anything special out for the occasion.

“This is just Tarah Murrey,” she said. “I wanna play as hard as I can for my team. I just always want to give them everything I have. And it’s just frustrating, it’s really frustrating.”

Murrey’s frustration stems from the fact that the team couldn’t sustain the same high level of play throughout the match. The Bears waned after the first two sets, struggling to muster up the spark that fueled their surge. Murrey’s heroics weren’t enough, but she said she has a role in picking her teammates up when they’re struggling.

“All I can do is have the confidence on my face,” Murrey said. “Look at them and be like, ‘It’s okay. We will ourselves to this win, no matter what.’” I don’t know that we lost the faith that we can and that we will win, but it goes back to that lack of focus and executing for a long time.”

Schonewise makes the most of limited time

Feller’s squad is stacked at the middle position. Juniors Shannon Hawari and Kat Brown returned from last year’s squad as formidable attackers and stalwart blockers. Feller even dabbled early in the year with playing All-American right side hitter Correy Johnson in the middle, but that experiment ended when Cal’s other right side, freshman Christina Higgins, had to fill in for an injured Adrienne Gehan on the outside.

Through all of the changes at the net, Feller has also gone to freshman Lillian Schonewise off the bench on occasion. This weekend, she earned just her second start of the year.

On Friday against Oregon State, Feller switched things up by bringing Schonewise in the second set. The Papillion, Neb., native certainly made her presence felt, nailing down 13 kills on 18 swings for a match-high .667 hitting percentage. Perhaps more notably, the freshman logged only one attack error. She also chipped in three blocks and two digs.

Feller is particularly fond of the slide play, in which the hitter moves from in front of the setter to behind her to attack from the right side. Schonewise rivaled Johnson in execution, which means something since Johnson has made it her signature play.

Feller rewarded Schonewise’s effort with a start against Oregon on Saturday night in place of Hawari.

“Lillian was on fire, and we felt she deserved a chance to get in there,” Feller said. “She was pretty good for a while today. We were going for more offense, and for a while it seemed to be working right.”

The 6-foot-3 attacker wasn’t as successful against a much stronger block, tallying a still respectable six kills in four sets. However, she continued to be a presence at the net, rejecting seven balls.

Gehan, Higgins split duties on the outside

Feller also toyed with the No. 2 outside hitter position. Gehan struggled to get past the block against Oregon State, and overall looked uncomfortable at the net. She made several mental mistakes, indicative of her time away from the net due to her ankle dislocation suffered in mid-September.

“She’s still not 100 percent,” Feller said of Gehan. “She still hasn’t gotten her jump back. We’re hoping we can get through another week or so and get her fully back in when the tournament time comes so we have the choice of her or Christina or both.”

Higgins got the start against the Ducks, notching 10 kills on 35 swings with four attack errors. Gehan, meanwhile, played primarily in the back row, contributing 10 digs.

“Christina has been hot and cold a little bit in her starts, and she was pretty hot to start out,” Feller said. “Adrienne wasn’t quite putting the ball away enough, so we thought we’d do that, try to get some better passing and more experience out there.”

Block Party?

The Bears were the top blocking contingent in the Pac-10 and among the best in the nation last season. This year, Cal has struggled to reject attacks with the same proficiency, currently ranking fourth in the conference with 2.77 blocks per set.

In the first set against Oregon on Saturday, the Bears looked like the squad of last year, putting up six stops in the opening stanza alone. Cal managed only eight total over five sets against Oregon State the night before.

“I didn’t think I did a great job (against the Beavers) blocking,” Johnson said. “I had the mentality that I was going to know the scouting report — obviously I knew it last night, but execute at a higher level and just be more disciplined in what I was blocking. It was a mentality change for me, and I feel like that was the same all around.”

The block couldn’t curtail the Duck attack in the later sets. The hitters adjusted, and the blockers did not. Outside hitters Katherine Fischer and Alaina Bergsma torched the Bears for 17 and 16 kills, respectively. They mastered tooling it off the Cal block.

Feller said he didn’t even feel the block was that good, despite the promising start.

“It seemed like they were always getting it through our block to me,” Feller said. “It felt like we were half a step behind when we didn’t put a ball away, so they were able to transition and score.”

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“When we’re in those ruts that happen naturally in matches, is there going to be a collective burst of energy where we actually make a change?” Murrey said. “Sometimes we can be just a little too-even-keeled.”

On Friday night, the answer to Murrey’s question was a resounding “no,” as the Bears fell, 3-1 (25-17, 20-25, 25-17, 25-16) to the Bruins at Haas Pavilion. Both sides made several incredible recoveries to keep long rallies alive, but Cal couldn’t seem to turn them into points.

Coach Rich Feller tried to shake things up with a shocking substitution in the second frame. Trailing 12-9 in the set and 1-0 in the match, Feller relieved setter Elly Barrett after missing a dig, one of a series of errors in her rough night. Freshman Lindsey Parrott guided the offense smoothly for the remainder of the set, Cal’s lone victory.

But that change couldn’t sustain the listless Bears (21-3, 11-3 in the Pac-12).  The Bruins (19-2, 12-2) tied up the third frame at 11 to kick off a 5-1 run. After a crafty dump by Parrott to narrow the score, 17-14, UCLA outside hitter Tabi Love caught fire, laying down three straight kills to put Cal out of reach. Love torched the Bears for seven kills in the third set alone, helping UCLA to an overall .268 attack rate in the match.

The Bears’ offense couldn’t seem to get going, hitting a mere .154. Freshman Christina Higgins led the squad with 13 kills and Murrey tacked on 10 kills, but it simply wasn’t enough.

Despite facing elimination, the Bears couldn’t muster up much of a fight down the stretch in the fourth set. After taking the first point, Cal never led again. Consecutive kills by outside hitter Christina Higgins pulled the Bears within two, 18-16, forcing a UCLA timeout. Those were the last points Cal would tally as UCLA cruised with seven straight points to claim the match.

With their first home loss of the season, the Bears find themselves a game out of first place in the Pac-12. On Saturday night at 7 p.m., Cal takes on USC (17-4, 12-2), which was swept by Stanford on Friday night.

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