Oct. 5, 2007
CORVALLIS, ORE. - The No. 10 California Golden Bears volleyball team (12-4, 2-3 Pac-10) defeated the Oregon State Beavers (8-10, 1-5) in a 3-0 sweep (30-17, 30-24, 30-13) tonight at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis, Ore. The Bears get their second conference road win on the season and ride momentum into their fourth match with a top ten team in the last five matches as they now turn their attention to Washington.
The Bears played all 12 players that traveled and were able to find a rhythm early on in the match, winning by 13 and then closing out the match with a 17-point differential between them and Oregon State. Led by redshirt junior outside hitter Am'ra Solomon's 11 kills (5e, 25att, .240), the Bears spread the work around evenly, earning points every which way. Cal's nine service aces were the third time the Bears were able to register that many this season, reaching 10 on two other occaisions.
Sophomore outside hitter Hana Cutura had seven kills on 12 attempts for .500 (1e) and put in four blocks on the night. Fellow sophomore, libero Kristen Kathan led the team with 12 digs and senior outside hitter Angie Pressey logged seven kills (3e, 18att, .222) to go with her seven digs and five block assists. The Bears played well as a team and weren't ever in danger of squandering their lead in this match.
Jumping out to a 10-1 lead in the third game, the Bears didn't let up and finished off the sweep on an Am'ra Solomon kill from Carli Lloyd. As a team, the Bears dug up 41 balls and were credited with 31 individual blocks. Senior middle hitter Ellen Orchard had 10 block assists alone to continue her scorching string of performance on the defensive side of the net. With 16.5 total team blocks, the Bears set the third highest mark on the season, continuing to shine with strong defense.
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The Golden Bears will return home to face yet another ranked opponent in current No. 8-ranked Washington on Thursday at 7 p.m. On Friday, Cal will meet Washington State in a 6 p.m. match. Fans holding a Cal vs. Oregon State Homecoming football game ticket will receive free admission to the Washington State volleyball match and are invited to remain for the post-match Homecoming rally in Haas Pavilion.
