No. 6 Cal Notches First Victory in 3-1 Win Over Saint Mary's

Four Golden Bears had ten kills or more led by senior outside hitter Hana Cutura's 21 kill-10 dig performance

Aug. 29, 2009

RENO, Nev. - The No. 6-ranked California volleyball team (1-1) defeated Saint Mary's College (1-1) in four sets (22-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-18) at the Virginia Street Gym to get its first win of the 2009 season today (Aug. 29) at the Nevada Marriott Courtyard/Fairfield Invitational. Senior outside hitter Hana Cutura was one of four Golden Bears with double-digit kills as she led the way with a season-high 21 kills (7e, 55att, .255) and posted a double-double with 10 digs.

Sophomore outside hitter Tarah Murrey registered a double-double of her own with 12 kills (6e, 36att, .167) and 12 digs. Sophomore middle hitter Shannon Hawari had a match high .476 hitting percentage on her 11 kills (1e, 21att) and added six digs and six blocks. Senior middle hitter Mindi Wiley rounded out the offense with 10 kills (5e, 19att, .263) and added three blocks. Junior setter Carli Lloyd had a different kind of double-double as she recorded 51 assists to go along with her 13 digs. Lloyd also had three kills (0e, 8att, .375) and three blocks. As a team, the Bears came away with 61 kills (23e, 152att) to log a .250 attack percentage and held the Saint Mary's offense to a .168 rate (52k, 26e, 155att). The Bears also out-blocked the Gaels, 13.0-10.0. Saint Mary's was led by freshman outside hitter Lauren Corp, who had 17 kills (5e, 51att, .235) along with nine digs.

Wiley's 10th kill of the night set Cal up with set point at 24-18 before Corp's attack error sealed the Gaels' fate. The Bears claimed command of the fourth set early as Hawari and Cutura teamed up to block Corp for a 6-3 lead. Cal maintained that distance until the Bears peeled away with a five-point run on Cutura serves for a 20-12 lead. Saint Mary's made one last short run to pull within five points at 23-18 but the Bears turned the Gaels away to claim victory No. 1. The Bears notched a .296 attack rate in the fourth set with 13 kills (5e, 27att) and held the Gaels to just six kills (4e, 25att, .080).

The Bears notched 16 kills in the first set (7e, 37att) and maintained a .243 attack percentage but weren't able to stop a Gael attack that committed just four errors on 36 attacks (15k) for a .306 rate. The teams had traded barbs to the tune of 10 ties at 15-all before Saint Mary's pulled away momentarily to lead 19-15. Six kills from Cutura pulled the Bears into a 12th tie at 21-all but Cutura's serve on the next play went long to give the Gaels their last lead. A couple of errors by Cal gave Saint Mary's the 24-21 lead before Hawari scored one last point off an overplayed ball. The Gaels' Megan York went up to get the last kill of the set and put Saint Mary's up 1-0 in the match.

With the score knotted at nine in the second set, the Gaels appeared to be pulling away once again as they built a 12-9 lead. The Bears maintained their distance however, and caught Saint Mary's at 20-all when a Gael was called for a net violation. Saint Mary's went ahead by two points once more with a kill after a long rally but the Bears were able to gain the final tie of the set off of two Gael errors. Hawari and freshman middle hitter Correy Johnson met up at the net on the next play to give Cal the 23-22 lead before Hawari gave the Bears set point with a kill off the Gael touch. Cutura's service ace gave Cal the last point it needed to knot the match at one set all. The Bears put down 11 kills (5e, 42att) to attack at a .143 rate and stayed in front of Saint Mary's, which posted a .140 rate (14k, 8e, 43att).

The Bears led by as many as seven points on three occasions in the third set. Wiley connected with Lloyd on a slide play to put Cal up with a 12-8 lead. A kill and a solo block by Cutura gave the Bears a 15-8 advantage. However, Saint Mary's reeled off three kills on the next four plays to keep Cal on its toes. But the Bears kept the pedal to the metal to push their lead to seven again at 19-12 when Cutura and Johnson ran a tandem play to perfection down the middle of the court. The Gaels put up a fight to get to within three points at 23-20 but two straight kills by Cutura put an end to things, sending Cal to the fourth set up 2-1. The Bears posted a match-high .389 attack rate in the set, getting 19 kills on 36 attacks (5e). The Gaels had 14 kills on 38 attacks with 5 errors (.237).

Cal completes play at the Nevada Invitational with a 10 a.m. PT match against Connecticut (0-3) tomorrow (Aug. 30).