Sept. 8, 1997

Cal (5-1) Opens Home Season with Sacramento State, Stanford

THIS WEEK:
Fri. Sept. 12--SACRAMENTO STATE, RSF Fieldhouse (1,000), Berkeley, 7:30 p.m.
Tue. Sept. 16--STANFORD, RSF Fieldhouse (1,000), Berkeley, 7:30 p.m.

SPIKERS RETURN HOME: The Cal women's volleyball team (5-1), fresh off winning the tournament title at the Illinois State Classic, opens its 1997 home schedule with matches against Sacramento State on Friday, Sept. 12 and defending NCAA Champion Stanford on Tuesday, Sept. 16. Both matches will be played in the Recreational Sports Facility (RSF) Fieldhouse on the Cal campus, adjacent to the Bears former home, Harmon Gym, which is undergoing renovation this season.

ABOUT THE OPPONENTS: Sacramento State is 4-3 on the season, after a pair of tournament appearances at the Iowa Invitational and the Univ. of the Pacific Tournament. The Hornets have victories over New Mexico, Cincinnati, Iowa and Tennessee Tech, and losses against Pacific, Stanford and Kentucky. Last season, the Hornets finished 24-11. Stanford, the Bears first Pac-10 opponent of 1997, is the defending NCAA Champion and posted a 31-2 record last year. The Cardinal opened the 1997 season with a 5-2 record, with both losses coming against Penn State in tourney action. The Cardinal travels to Duke and North Carolina Sept. 10-12 before coming to Berkeley.

CAL vs. THE OPPONENTS: Cal leads the series with Sacramento State, 9-1, with the only loss coming at Sac State last season. Stanford holds a 40-4 series advantage over Cal, although the Bears nearly upset the Cardinal in five games at Stanford last season. Cal was serving match point at 15-14 in game five, but an official's call out of an apparent Cal kill turned the tide and Stanford went on to win the game, 18-16, and match. Cal's last win over Stanford was Oct. 1, 1982 at Cal's Dolfin Invitational.

LAST WEEK: Cal won the Pepsi/Illinois State Classic in Normal, Illinois, going 3-0 in the tournament including a victory over host Illinois State in the championship match. The Bears posted a three-game win in the opener against Murray State, and five-game wins on Saturday over Tulsa and Illinois State. The five-game victories were particularly rewarding since Cal was just 1-8 in five-game matches last season. Senior hitter Jessica Dinaberg was named the tournament MVP with 39 kills, 34 digs, 7 blocks and a .292 hitting percentage in three matches, and with her 18th kill of the tournament (vs. Tulsa), she hit the 1,000 career kill mark. Dinaberg becomes just the third player in Cal history, and the 29th in Pac-10 history, to record 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs. Sophomore Amanda Selby had 32 kills, 18 blocks and hit .365 for the tourney.

SELBY SETTLES IN: Newcomer Amanda Selby (Sherman Oaks/Harvard-Westlake HS) continues to make her presence felt, as the 6-2 sophomore middle blocker knocked down 32 kills (2.5 kpg) and 18 blocks (1.4 bpg), while hitting an outstanding .365 at the Illinois State Classic last weekend. She led the Bears with 12 kills in the win over Murray State, and nearly recorded her first double-double with 9 kills and 10 blocks in the win over Illinois State. Selby, who transferred from UCLA last year, leads the Bears in blocking (1.32 bpg) and hitting percentage (.333) and ranks second in kills (2.45 kpg).

PERRY PROVIDES PUNCH: Redshirt freshman hitter Alicia Perry (Lakewood/Lakewood HS) turned in the best performance of her young Cal career at the Illinois State Classic, slamming a career-high and Cal season-high 23 kills in the championship victory over the Redbirds. Perry hit .326 for the match, served three aces, had four blocks and a team-high 18 digs. Going into that match, Perry had a total of just 13 kills on the season. Perry sat out last season to recover from a broken leg suffered during the 1996 club volleyball season.

DINABERG'S DOUBLE DIP: When senior hitter Jessica Dinaberg (West Hills/El Camino HS) put down her 18th kill of the Illinois State Classic last weekend during the Tulsa match, she became just the third player in Cal history to record 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs. The other two Bears in the 1,000-1,000 club are Lisa Arce (1987-90) and Tiffany Rochelle (1986-89). Dinaberg, who now has 1,021 kills and 1,076 digs, became just the 29th player in Pac-10 history to accomplish that feat.

BEAR BITS: Sophomore hitter Brook Coulter had a career-high 6 service aces against Tulsa, just two short of the school record for a single match...senior Michelle Wickman set the entire match against Illinois State, recording a career-high 64 assists, along with 5 kills, 4 blocks and 9 digs...Cal is 4-0 on neutral courts this season...Cal's only loss is to #24 Colorado State.

HEAD COACH SUE WOODSTRA: Sue Woodstra is in her third year at the helm of the Golden Bears, with a record of 26-26 at Cal. A two-time Olympic team member and one of nine Olympians to currently head a women's collegiate volleyball team, Woodstra has posted a 136-75 record in six seasons as a collegiate head coach, including four years at Pittsburgh.