Sept. 19, 2009

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BERKELEY - Behind the solid hitting of seniors Hana Cutura and Mindi Wiley, the No. 13-ranked Cal women's volleyball team (7-3) defeated San Francisco (5-7), 3-0 (25-9, 25-12, 25-23) Saturday night at Haas Pavilion. Cutura paced the Golden Bears with 14 kills and only two errors in 29 attempts for a .414 hitting percentage, while Wiley knocked down 10 kills (.529 hitting percentage). Cal's match against the Dons was part of the Pac-10/WCC Challenge. On Friday night, the Bears had upended Saint Mary's, 3-1 (25-14, 25-17, 21-25, 25-18). Cal has now captured its last five matches.

Sarah Mandala paced San Francisco with 13 kills.

Other top performers for the Bears, who out-hit the Dons .348 (41 k, 10 e, 89 att) to -.010 for the evening, were sophomore Tarah Murrey with eight kills and freshman Correy Johnson with five kills with no errors in six attempts (.833). Junior setter Carli Lloyd finished the evening with 33 assists and senior libero Kristen Kathan had a match-high 17 digs.

Cal dominated the first two games of the match, 25-9 and 25-12, but had to battle back from an 8-0 deficit in game three. Finally, the Bears were able to tie game three, 18-18, on a service ace by Lloyd. USF followed with a Mandala hitting error to give Cal its first lead on the way to the 25-23 win. Wiley sealed the Bears' win with the final kill of the match.

Cal will next host No. 11 ranked and Bay Area rival Stanford in its Pac-10 opener on Friday, Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. at Haas Pavilion. Last season the two schools each won on the opponents' home court.

"We are getting more consistent in spurts," said Cal coach Rich Feller, whose Bears have not lost since defeating then No. 4-ranked Hawaii in Honolulu on Sept. 6. "We now need to put it all together for a whole match, but I do think we are getting increasingly better and better. I feel pretty good going into next week against Stanford."