Sept. 17, 2010

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SAN FRANCISCO - The 10th-ranked California volleyball team (9-0) remained undefeated as it took down San Francisco (1-9) at War Memorial Gym on Friday, Sept. 17, in the Pac-10/WCC Challenge in four sets, 21-25, 25-18, 25-17, 25-13. The Golden Bears were led by junior outside hitter Tarah Murrey, who had 18 kills (5e, 42att, .310). Cal's middles combined for 32 kills as the Bears registered a .349 attack percentage (59k, 15e, 126att).

Senior setter Carli Lloyd had a season-high 57 assists and nine digs as she guided Cal to its ninth straight match with a better than .310 hitting percentage. Sophomore middle hitter Kat Brown recorded new career high marks with 12 kills and 18 attacks (1e, .611) and had five blocks. Sophomore middle hitter Shannon Hawari contributed a season-high 13 kills (1e, 18att) for a .706 attack percentage and paced the team with seven blocks.

Sophomore opposite hitter Correy Johnson returned to action after a three-match hiatus to log seven kills (2e, 15att, .333) and four blocks. Defensively, the Bears put up a season-high 12.0 team blocks and held the Don attack to a .137 attack percentage (47k, 28e, 139att) thanks in part to sophomore libero Robin Rostratter's career-high 20 digs. USF freshman setter Joan Caloiaro led the Dons with 14 kills (0e, 30att, .467) and posted a triple-double with 30 assists and 13 digs. The Dons also got an offensive boost from sophomore opposite hitter Erin Kilroy's 12 kills (9e, 28att, .107) and freshman outside hitter Malina Terrell's 11 kills (11e, 34att, .000).

The Dons opened the match on a high note as they snapped Cal's 24-set winning streak with a 25-21 win in the first set. USF attacked at a .297 rate (16k, 5e, 37att) while the Bears logged 15 kills with seven errors (42att) for a .190 hitting percentage. Rostratter served up one of her two aces for an early 3-2 lead but it was the only time Cal held a lead in the set. From there, the Dons went on a 4-0 run to secure the lead for good. USF led by as many as six points at 23-17 when Kilroy got the kill, but the Bears made a run to close the gap to three once more as Johnson and Brown teamed up to put the block on Terrell. The run wasn't enough, however, as the Dons got their final two points on kills by Kilroy.

San Francisco took a two point lead at 6-4 in the second set, but the Bears took the final lead of the set when Murrey rolled a shot out of the back row to give Cal an 8-7 advantage. The Bears went up by five points, 15-10, when Brown went to the pins on a slide play to crush a shot down the line. The Dons stayed close for a few more points, but fell back by five once more as freshman outside Adrienne Gehan logged the first service ace of her career. Murrey got up to return an attack by Kilroy to give the Bears set point at 24-18, before Hawari terminated a quick set from Lloyd for the 25-18 win. The Bears attacked at a .387 clip in the second set with 15 kills (3e) on 31 attempts. USF logged a .152 attack rate (11k, 6e) on 33 attacks as Cal evened up the match.

The teams faced four ties to open the third set before Cal went up, 6-4, on a kill by Hawari. The Bears rolled out to a five-point lead at 11-6 as Gehan earned the kill, and pushed their advantage to seven points at 20-13 when Hawari and Johnson met at the net to block a Terrell attack. The Dons made a push to get back in the set, but three kills by Brown helped give the Bears set point at 24-17. Murrey came through with a shot down the line one play later seal the Cal win, 25-17. The Bears earned 18 kills on 27 attacks (2e) for a .593 hitting percentage and held the Dons to a .156 outing on 32 attacks (12k, 7e).

After a slow start in the fourth, the Bears turned on the jets to run off with a 25-13 win. Terrell put a shot off the Cal block to knot the set at five all, but Murrey quickly gave the Bears the lead back as she came up with a cross-court kill. San Francisco hung around for a while before its own errors allowed Cal to extend to a 16-9 advantage. Lloyd, who had a season-high six blocks, joined Hawari to block Terrell and give Cal a 19-11 lead. The Bears took four straight points before Murrey's 18th kill of the night secured the four-set win for Cal. The Bears needed just 11 kills (3e, 26att, .308) to claim the fourth set as USF logged 10 errors (8k) on 37 attacks for a negative .054 attack rate.

The Bears are back in action at 7 p.m. PT on Saturday, Sept. 18, against Saint Mary's College (7-4) at McKeon Pavilion in Moraga, Calif. The Gaels fell in four sets to top-ranked Stanford (8-0) earlier today.