Cal Athletics
The Bears travel to No. 19 Utah and Colorado this week.
VB11/1/2016 2:34 PM | By: Cal Athletics
Bears Look For Momentum In The Mountains
The Cal volleyball team returns to the road this week hoping to build off its impressive sweep of No. 18 Washington State on Saturday. The Bears were sparked by the first career start of redshirt freshman
Savannah Rennie, who underwent a liver transplant in May. Rennie had a career-high seven kills and demonstrated an effecitve serve that consistently took the Cougars out of their offense. Junior
Christine Alftin has also picked it up in conference play, averaging 2.95 kills per set in Pac-12 matches and ranking in a tie for seventh in aces at 0.23/set.
BEAR NECESSITIES: CAL'S TOP STORYLINES, STREAKS & TRENDS
#SAVSTRONG
Redshirt freshman
Savannah Rennie continues to insipire everyone around her with her remarkable recovery from a liver transplant in May. After contracting a rare liver disease known as Congenital Hepatic Fibrosis with Portal Hypertension, Rennie received a new liver at the Indiana University Transplant Center and was back on the court for the start of training camp in August. Shortly after the season began, Rennie received complete medical clearance and made her college debut on Oct. 7 against Utah. After gradually earning more playing time, Rennie made her first career start Saturday against No. 18 Washington State and helped the Bears pull off the upset. Rennie was the No. 20 Senior Ace by PrepVolleyball.com coming out of Torrey Pines High School in San Diego.
FIRST SERVE
The Bears continue to work on improving their service game, and have been getting better results lately. Junior
Christine Alftin has seven aces in her past four matches and 10 overall in conference matches. Tough serving played a big part in Cal holding Washington State to just a .113 hitting percentage Sunday, and as a team the Bears have 17 aces in their past seven matches. Senior
Alyssa Jensen leads the Bears with 15 aces on the season with Alftin right behind with 14.
JENSEN JOINS 3,000 CLUB
During the Bears' match against Arizona State on Oct. 14, senior setter
Alyssa Jensen became the sixth student-athlete in Cal history to record 3,000 assists in a career. The three-year starter now has 3,255 as a Golden Bear, and has an outside shot of breaking into Cal's top-5 before her career is over. Candace McNamee sits in fifth place on Cal's all-time list with 3,622. Jensen currently ranks third in the Pac-12 with 10.44 assists per set and her 64-assist effort in a five-set win over Northeastern on Sept. 3 is is the most in any match by a Pac-12 player this season.
KERR EYES ALL-TIME DIGS MARK
Senior libero
Maddy Kerr is in a race to become Cal's all-time digs leader before her time in Berkeley is through. She enters the weekend in second place on the Golden Bears' all-time list with 1,677. JIllian Davis, who played at Cal from 2003-06, is Cal's all-time leader with 1,810.
KERR MAKES MARK IN CLASSROOM
Senior
Maddy Kerr became just the second Cal volleyball student-athlete ever to earn Pac-12 All-Academic First Team honors last season. Kerr has a cumulative GPA of 3.76 while double-majoring in Media Studies and Rhetoric. She was Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention as a sophomore.
ABOUT NO. 19 UTAH
• JR Adora Anae leads the Pac-12 at 4.73 kills per set
• Has beaten five ranked opponents this season
• Utes have been nationally ranked five of the past six weeks
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LAST MEETING: Utah. d. Cal, 3-0 (10-7-16)
ABOUT COLORADO
• Notched big nonconference wins over No. 13 Penn State and No. 17 Illinois
• SO Alexa Smith ranks 10th in the Pac-12 at 3.19 kills per set
• Buffs are fourth in the Pac-12 in blocking as a team (2.51/set)
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LAST MEETING: Cal d. Colorado 3-1 (10-9-16)
