Oct. 9, 2009

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BERKELEY - The No. 15-ranked California volleyball team (8-6, 1-3 Pac-10) fell in three sets (25-16, 25-22, 25-23) to No. 3 Washington (15-0, 5-0 Pac-10) Friday, Oct. 9, at Haas Pavilion, sending the Golden Bears to their third consecutive defeat. Cal was led by senior outside hitter Hana Cutura's 11 kills (3e, 23att, .348) and posted a .349 attack percentage as a team (40k, 11e, 83att). The Huskies logged their 45th consecutive set win and were led by junior outside hitter Kindra Carlson's season-high 19 kills (3e, 34att, .471).

Senior middle hitter Mindi Wiley added nine kills (2e, 13att, .538) and tallied the only Cal block. Freshman opposite hitter Correy Johnson came through with another efficient night as she put down seven kills without an error on 10 attacks (.700). Junior setter Carli Lloyd dished out 34 assists and had five kills (1e, 12att, .333) and six digs and sophomore outside hitter Tarah Murrey posted seven kills (5e, 24att, .083). Cutura moved into seventh in all-time career service aces with two on the night; 103 in her career.

Washington senior outside hitter Jill Collymore started the night off slowly but ended up leading the Huskies with a .538 attack percentage and 15 kills (1e, 26att). Husky senior libero Tamari Miyashiro led all players with 11 digs and junior setter Jenna Hagglund had 47 assists as Washington posted 54 kills (7e, 96att) and a .490 attack rate.

The two teams stayed knotted at four through the first eight points of the third set but Hagglund dumped her pass to earn a kill and bring Washington a 5-4 lead that it would never relinquish. The Bears fell behind by as many as seven points at 23-16 but fought back to get within a point at 24-23 as Carlson logged just her third error of the night. The Huskies regained their footing, however, as senior outside hitter Airial Salvo put away the final ball of the night to keep Washington's winning streak alive. The Bears earned 16 kills (4e, 31att) and logged a .387 attack percentage in the final set but Washington's .455 percentage with 17 kills (2e, 33att) proved to be too much to overcome.

The Bears seized the first lead of the match and went up, 3-1, in the first set on Cutura's second kill but the Huskies didn't stay behind long as their fifth kill knotted the score at five-all. Two consecutive kills by Carlson gave Washington a 6-5 lead and the Huskies never trailed again. Cal managed to stay close and came within one point at 10-9 when Murrey earned a point, but Washington took the next four points to build a five-point advantage. Collymore put a shot through the Cal block to give the Huskies an eight-point lead and set-point at 24-16 before Washington sophomore middle blocker Bianca Rowland ended the set with a kill. The Huskies held Cal to just nine kills (5e, 28att, .143) while they posted a 75 percent sideout rate and 19 kills in the first set (3e, 32att, .500).

Things looked bleak for the Bears as they fell behind by four points to open the second set but Wiley turned a quick set from Lloyd into a kill to pull Cal into an eight-all tie. The Bears took the lead as Murrey blasted a cut shot off the Washington block but couldn't pull away as the Huskies rallied to tie the score at 14. The Bears went up by a point twice, each time as Johnson connected with Lloyd on slide plays, but the Huskies reclaimed the lead at 17-16 as Salvo earned a service ace. Cutura pulled up for an off-speed tip-kill to push the score to 22-all but three straight points by the Huskies ended the second set with Washington up, 2-0. The Bears recorded a match-high .542 attack percentage in the second set (15k, 2e, 24att) but it wasn't enough as the Huskies stayed on pace with a .516 rate of their own (18k, 2e, 31att).

The Bears remain at Haas Pavilion to host No. 25 Washington State (14-2, 3-2 Pac-10) in a 4 p.m. match Saturday, Oct. 10. Live stats and streaming video are available for the match via links at CalBears.com. Comcast SportsNet California will also carry the match live. Please check your local listings for availability.