COLORADO (21-8, 11-7 PAC-12) AT CAL (13-16, 4-14 PAC-12)
Wednesday, Nov. 22 | 3 PM PT | Haas Pavilion | Berkeley, Calif.
LIVE STATS | PAC-12 NETWORKS

NO. 4 STANFORD (24-3, 17-1 PAC-12) AT CAL
Saturday, Nov. 25 | 7 PM PT | Haas Pavilion | Berkeley, Calif.
LIVE STATS | PAC-12 NETWORKS 

The Cal volleyball team closes out the 2017 season with a pair of home matches this week, including Senior Night on Saturday in the Big Spike against Stanford. The Bears will honor seniors Christine Alftin, Ashten Smith-Gooden, Antzela Dempi, Gaby deGuzman, Jessica Gaffney and Caihla Petiprin in a special pre-match ceremony before taking on the Cardinal. First, Cal will host Colorado for the only time this season. Both matches this week will air on the Pac-12 Networks. 


 

DEMPI EARNS ACADEMIC HONOR
Senior right side hitter Antzela Dempi was awarded a prestigious academic honor last week when she was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District 8 First Team. Dempi was one of just seven student-athletes picked to the All-District 8 Team and just three from the Pac-12. District 8 covers Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Canada. Dempi, a business administration major, has a cumulative GPA of 3.84. She is now eligible for CoSIDA Academic All-America honors. 

HISTORY IS SERVED
Senior right side hitter Antzela Dempi has been busy making history behind the service line this season. With 49 aces in 2017, Dempi is in eighth place on Cal's all-time single season aces list. She also enters the final week of the regular season leading the Pac-12 with 0.49 aces per set. No Golden Bear has ever paced the conference in aces per set or overall aces, two categories Dempi currently leads. Dempi needs two more aces during the final two matches of the season to catch Holly McPeak for seventh place on Cal's all-time single-season list, and can track down Teri Donohue with four aces. Sylvie Monnet holds the program record for aces in a season with 62 in 1983.

PRESLIE MAKES AN IMPACT
Freshman Preslie Anderson is making her presence felt during her first season at Cal. She enters the week ranked ninth in the Pac-12 with a .330 hitting percentage, and in conference matches only she's even better at .345, which is ranked fifth in the conference. Anderson had a career-high 11 kills in the Bears' victory at Arizona State on Oct. 29, and earlier this season registered 10 blocks during a five-set loss at Pacific - the most by a Cal player since Lara Vukasovic recorded the same amount in a match against Oregon in 2013. Anderson also had six kills against the Tigers.

A STRONG LINK
Opposite hitter Carmen Annevelink has made the most of her first season as a starter. The junior is averaging 2.50 kills per set for the season, which is third on the team. Annevelink had a career-high 17 kills in a victory over Texas Tech earlier this season, which helped her be named to the Cal Classic All-Tournament Team. Annevelink is also an outstanding student; she is an integrative biology major who earned Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention last year.

BEARS SIGN HERALDED HITTERS
Cal strengthened its pin hitting and ball control last week when the program signed outside hitters Rachel Ahrens and Darian Clark to a National Letter of Intent. Ahrens, from Trabuco Canyon, Calif., is the No. 50 "Senior Ace" by PrepVolleyball.com while Clark, from Phoenix, Ariz., was ranked among PrepVolleyball.com's top 250 and a three-time selection to to the AVCA Phenom list.

ABOUT COLORADO
• Buffs have defeated five nationally ranked opponents this season
• Colorado is the first team receiving votes out of the AVCA Top 25 this week
• OH Alexa Smith and Frankie Shebby each rank in the Pac-12 top-10 in kills per set
• LAST MEETING: Colorado d. Cal 3-0 (11-6-16)    

ABOUT NO. 4 STANFORD
• Cardinal has already clinched the Pac-12 championship
• SO Kathryn Plummer is the reigning Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week
• SO Audriana Fitzmorris is the reigning Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week
• LAST MEETING: Stanford d. Cal 3-0 (9-20-17)