Nov. 5, 2011

Final Stats

BOULDER, Colo. - The No. 7 California volleyball team closed its inaugural conference trip to Colorado with a 3-1 win over the Buffaloes on Saturday afternoon at the Coors Event Center. The Golden Bears tallied the 25-23, 30-25, 25-15, 25-20 win against CU to close the Utah-Colorado road trip.

The Bears improve to 23-4 overall and 13-4 in the Pac-12 while the Buffs drop their 20th match and 17th in conference play for a 5-20 overall and 0-17 Pac-12 records.

Correy Johnson hit a match-high .625 with 15 kills in 24 swings with no errors. In addition to the 15 kills, Johnson also added four blocks for 17 points. Tarah Murrey registered a match-best 19 kills (6e, 44att, .295) en route to 20 points. With 10 digs, Murrey also earned herself a double-double.

Robin Rostratter contributed 18 digs and Erin Freeman had nine. Elly Barrett dished out 47 assists. Kat Brown also reached double-digit kill figures with 10 (1e, 15att, .600) for 12 points.

Overall, the Bears hit .261 to Colorado's .157. Cal's best outing was in set four, in which the Bears hit .424. The Buffs out blocked the Bears, 8-6. Across the four-set match, there were 20 ties and the lead changed hands seven times. The only set in which neither occurred was set three, which Cal completely controlled.

Set One - Cal 25, Colorado 23:

With a 5-1 run, the Buffs galloped to an early 8-3 lead. A Christina Higgins spike caught the Bears up slightly, only down by one, 9-8. Tarah Murrey gave the Bears their first lead of the set at 11-10 with a kill off a Robin Rostratter bump. After the Buffs moved back into the lead, Murrey six packed Colorado's Megan Beckwith to knot things at 13. With a surefire spike, Kat Brown tied the set at 17. Cal hit the ball wide and then long for the Buffs to pull ahead slightly, 19-17, but Correy Johnson twice tallied kills to tie it at 19. Shannon Hawari and Murrey took turns tooling it off the block for a 24-21 advantage. The Buffs twice avoided set point, but were no match for a Murrey swing, which powered Cal to the 25-23 set-one victory.

A kill courtesy Correy Johnson tied things at four, and then a Buff service error knotted the set at five. Johnson and Kat Brown teamed on a block to cut Colorado's lead to 17-12. Three straight points - kills from Correy Johnson and Christina Higgins coupled with a Kat Brown ace - brought the Bears within two at 18-16. The Buffs reacted with three unanswered points of their own off a kill by Lydia Blaha and two aces to lead 21-16. Elly Barrett won the push-of-war at the net for the Bears to be three behind, 23-20. Colorado's Nikki Lindow laced a kill and Kerra Schroeder served up an ace for the 25-20 win.

Set Three - Cal 24, Colorado 15:

Cal capitalized on a string of Colorado errors to lead 5-1. The Bears' first offensive point came off a Correy Johnson line shot to move ahead 6-2. Cal registered five unanswered points, building a 12-5 lead. Johnson and Shannon Hawari jumped on a block on the right side to further distance Cal 16-7. Adrienne Gehan tooled it off the Buff block, doubling Colorado up 18-9. Cal posted a 4-1 run to pull ahead 23-14. Johnson tallied her 12th kill of the match for Cal's 24th point of the set and then a Kerra Schroeder attack error gave Cal set point.

Set Four - Cal 25, Colorado 20:

With a swing reminiscent of her pre-dislocated ankle days, Adrienne Gehan knotted the game 4-4. After four ties, the Buffs moved ahead, 8-5. Correy Johnson cut Colorado's command to 8-7 with a cross-court kill. After CU upped its lead to three for the second time, two Buff errors, a Murrey service ace and a kill by Gehan gave Cal its first lead at 11-10. Up by four at 16-13, the Bears went on a 5-0 run to lead 20-13. Facing that seven-point deficit, the Buffaloes made things interesting with an 8-3 scoring spree to trail the Bears by just four at 24-20. Just as the crowd at the Coors Event Center had grown quite vociferous in support of their home-court Buffs, Elysse Richardson gave the Bears the set point with an error.

What's Next:

Cal takes to the skies again next weekend - this time flying to Washington. On Friday, Nov. 11, the Bears play Washington State in Pullman. From the Palouse, the Bears then head to the Emerald City for a 7 p.m. match-up with Washington in Seattle on Nov. 12.