Oct. 15, 2010

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BERKELEY - California volleyball sophomore middle hitter Kat Brown earned a career-high 17 points (11 kills, eight blocks) to help the No. 6-ranked Golden Bears (16-1, 6-1 Pac-10) to a four-set victory (26-24, 21-25, 25-15, 25-8) over Washington State (6-10, 0-6 Pac-10) on Dig for the Cure night at Haas Pavilion on Friday, Oct. 15. Cal won its 12th-consecutive home match as junior outside hitter Tarah Murrey logged her third-straight outing with at least 20 kills (5e, 56att, .268); her sixth overall this season.

Senior setter Carli Lloyd kept the Bear offense moving as she dished out 45 assists to help Cal attack at a .316 rate in the match (57k, 15e, 133att). Lloyd also added eight kills (0e, 11att, .727) of her own to go with eight digs and four blocks. She now has 328 career blocks all-time to move her ahead of former outside hitter Morgan Beck into 10th in school history.

Sophomore middle hitter Shannon Hawari added six kills and four blocks while sophomore libero Robin Rostratter led all players with 16 digs. The Bears put up 15.5 total team blocks and dug up 57 balls to hold the Washington State attack to a .147 hitting percentage in the match (51k, 30e, 143att).

The Cougars were led by junior outside hitter Meagan Ganzer, who had 17 kills (9e, 55att, .145) and sophomore right-side hitter Rachel Todorovich, who had 10 kills (6e, 25att, .160). WSU senior middle blocker Brittany Tillman had eight kills (6e, 23att, .087) for the Cougars and sophomore middle Conley Kipp had nine kills (3e, 17att, .353).

Cal opened up the match with a 4-1 lead, but Washington State quickly put an end to the Bears' productivity by ripping off nine straight points for a 10-4 lead. The Bears made a push to climb back into the set, but the Cougars kept their distance until Murrey went down the line to knot the score at 15-all. Washington State persisted and claimed the lead three more times. Todorovich's kill gave the Cougars set point at 24-21, but Murrey was unstoppable as she racked up three kills to swing set-point Cal's way at 25-24. Lloyd and Hawari teamed up to stuff Tillman and give the Bears a 26-24 win. Murrey was unconscious in the opening set as she posted 11 kills without an error on 20 attacks (.550). The Bears attacked at a .386 rate in the set with 20 kills (3e) on 44 attacks while Washington State had 19 kills (6e, .289) on 45 swings.

The teams tussled, again, to open the second set, but the Cougars walked away with a 25-21 win as the Bears committed crucial errors down the stretch. Washington State went in front on a couple of Cal errors, but the Bears hung around and tied the set at 17-all when Lloyd and Brown teamed up to block an attack by Ganzer. Murrey's 15th kill of the evening put Cal in front, 21-20, but WSU earned four of its next five points to seal the deal and knot the match at one set all. The Bears had 14 kills (8e, 41att) in the second set for a .146 hitting percentage but were outpaced by a Cougar offense that logged 15 kills (5e, .294) on 34 attacks.

The Bears put the pedal to the metal in the third set and ran off with a 25-15 win with 11 kills (2e, 27att, .333) and five blocks. Washington State was able to get within a point a few times, the last of which came at 6-5. Cal cruised out to a 12-7 lead as Brown went up alone to return a Tillman attack for an 11-6 lead. Hawari and sophomore opposite hitter Correy Johnson earned back-to-back kills to give the Bears a 15-9 lead halfway through the set. Freshman outside hitter Adrienne Gehan won a joust at the net to give Cal a 23-12 advantage, before Murrey's kill-shot secured the win for the Bears. The Cougars had 12 kills in the set, but were hampered by 10 errors (37att), thanks to the Cal block for a .054 hitting percentage.

Cal never trailed in the fourth as senior defensive specialist Meagan Schmitt served 11 straight points to open the set. Schmitt's first serve of the set earned her, her first service ace of the match. The Cougars tried to make a run and earned their fifth point as Kipp took a kill on a quick set in the middle. But the Bears were already in front, 16-5, and kept on pushing as Rostratter's serve put the Bears in front, 20-6. Brown's kill gave Cal a 24-8 lead and match point before Schmitt's final serve of the night earned her a second service ace, and a 25-8 win for the Bears. Cal attacked just 21 times in the final chapter to earn 12 kills (2e) for a .476 hitting percentage. The Cougars had trouble getting into a groove as their offense had just five kills against nine errors (27e) for a negative .148 attack rate.

The Bears are back in action in a 7 p.m. PT match against No. 7 Washington (15-2, 4-2 Pac-10) on Saturday, Oct. 16, at Haas Pavilion. The Huskies fell in four sets to No. 2 Stanford at Maples Pavilion earlier in the evening. Please visit CalBears.com for more information and links to live stats and video.